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The Bruins did something yesterday that they haven't done in 32 years: They completed their Pauley Pavilion schedule without a loss. UCLA went 16-0 at Home this year, and are now on a 20-game Home winning streak over two seasons. Now THAT'S a Home Court Advantage.
Yesterday, the 1967 National Champion Bruins' 40th Anniversary was honored, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Wooden, Mike Warren, Lucius Allen and the rest of the team got introduced to the crowd at Halftime. Back in those days, the Bruins never lost at Pauley, and Ben Howland is re-capturing that magic. Now, opponents once again fear coming into Westwood.
Stanford gave UCLA one of their three ROAD losses this year, so they came into Pauley with confidence. They played the Bruins tough for 20 minutes, trailing by only 3 at the Half. But then came the 1967 Tribute, and some encouraging words from the Wizard. Apparently, Howland, the new Wizard, had some encouraging words for the Bruins at Halftime too, because they came back from the Intermission on fire. As usual, they turned up the Defensive pressure in the Second Half, and forced turnovers that led to easy baskets. An early spurt put the lead in double-digits, and the Bruins were never threatened again.
The Bruins were led by Arron Afflalo with 20 points, in what was almost assuredly his last game in Pauley. AA is a Junior, but he almost went Pro last year, so he's a good bet to go this year, despite the fans yesterday chanting "One more year" to him over and over.
The key to the game was Defense, specifically Darren Collison's FIVE Steals and constant ball-hawking, and also the effective double-teaming that occurred down low on every Offensive threat.
Alfred Aboya, Lorenzo Mata (3 Blocks), and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute all wreaked havoc on the TALLER Stanford big men with solid positioning and disciplined double-teams.
With Florida losing to LSU yesterday, the odds of the Bruins improving on last year's Final Four appearance are getting better and better.
Below are 18 game and cheer photos from yesterday (with more coming over the next several days). And, in honor of it being the last Home game of the year, these photos have hidden captions. Just put your mouse on a photo to read the caption.
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