LOS ANGELES – By the time UCLA's Jaime Jaquez and the rest of the Bruins started making 3-pointers, it didn’t even matter anymore.
Once again, in Arizona’s 74-60 loss at UCLA on Thursday, the Bruins beat Arizona simply by crushing the Wildcats inside the arc. UCLA shot 73.1% after halftime, when Jaquez scored 17 of his game-high 25 points, after shooting 49.0% overall a month ago in a five-point win over UA at McKale Center.
The Bruins didn't make a single 3-pointer until less than six minutes remained but shot so well overall after halftime that every one of their second-half offensive numbers was planted firmly in the mind of UA coach Sean Miller, who rattled off the Bruins’ 72% shooting overall, their 19 for 26 two-point shooting and their 3 of 4 3-point shooting.
All that, too, after Arizona actually held UCLA to just 38.2% shooting in the first half, when the Bruins missed all 10 3-pointers they took.
“We could not stop them” in the second half, Miller said. “We have a tough time matching up with them. We really do.
“For about 24 minutes, it was kind of UCLA and Arizona even and then their offense just overwhelmed our defense. I wish I had more of an answer. But their personnel and Jaime Jaquez is really a tough matchup for our team. I thought Jaime’s second half was terrific.”
It was a self-generated birthday gift of sorts for Jaquez, who turned 20 on Thursday. Having proven a difficult matchup for many teams last season as a freshman, the 6-6 sophomore found increasing success driving inside against the Wildcats.
“We were using me in the pick and roll a little more,” Jaquez said. “I was setting more screens. ... I’m a guard and we play four guards so when the big guy is guarding me on the perimeter, it gives me opportunity to just drive and get in the paint or create for my teammates.”
Actually, he didn’t really need to create all that much for his teammates. He just needed to finish, helping UCLA pull away in a game that UA led for most of the first half and nearly 21 minutes overall.
“Especially down the stretch when he started getting going we were looking for him a lot,” UCLA guard Tyger Campbell said. “Jaime’s a guard but he’s 6-6, 6-7, and he’s pretty strong so he plays the four for us sometimes, so if we can get a guard on him or a big on him, we like to go to him.
“He came through today and had a good game. Happy birthday to him.”
Jaquez’ heroics overshadowed a 21-point game from UA’s James Akinjo, while Azuolas Tubelis had 18 points and eight rebounds in what was Arizona’s fifth straight loss to UCLA. The Wildcats, now 14-8 overall and 8-8 in Pac-12 play, now will face first-place USC on Saturday while UCLA improved to 15-5 and 11-3.
Arizona had been 12-0 in games when leading at halftime but after taking a 31-30 halftime lead Thursday, the Wildcats shot just 34.8% in the second half and couldn’t stop Jaquez. UCLA went on a 13-3 run midway through the second half to take control of the game, while Jaquez became hotter as the game went on, and Miller said the Bruins wore UA's defense down.
UCLA was still unable to score from 3 until late in the game, hitting just 1 of 11 through the first 33 minutes, but powered the ball inside for layups and short jumpers that helped them take a 53-40 lead when Jules Bernard hit a 14-footer with 9:03 left.
Arizona pulled within six, 55-49, after Akinjo hit a jumper in the paint and a 3-pointer and a free throw from Tubelis brought UA within five with 6:30 left. Akinjo later drew a shooting foul beyond the 3-point line from Campbell, hitting the first two resulting free throws to pull UA within 62-54.
But Jaquez kept going, hitting a 12-foot jumper in the paint to put UCLA up by 10 and then, after a turnover by Tubelis, hitting a 3 that gave UCLA a 67-54 lead and the Bruins kept a comfortable lead from there.
“He was just hitting shots,” UA forward Jordan Brown said of Jaquez. “We were playing defense and had guys in front of him, but he was just hitting them.”
While defense has been a sore subject for the Wildcats in virtually all of their losses this season, a normally strong point also failed them Thursday: They had 16 turnovers that led to 18 UCLA points.
“I know I harp on that a lot but we had just some really poor turnovers,” Miller said. “When you’re playing against a team like them, especially with their offensive efficiency and some of the (matchup) problems we have against them, you’ve gotta be really smart and take care of the basketball.”
Eleven of the turnovers were by UA’s starting freshmen -- Azuolas Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin each had four while Kerr Kriisa had three – and Miller acknowledged that inexperience may have played a role. Mathurin actually combined his turnovers with 0-for-3 shooting, though he had four rebounds and three assists.
“Benn obviously had a very tough night,” Miller said.
But as much as 16 turnovers is normally enough to upset Miller, on Thursday there were bigger problems to look at.
“When a team shoots 73% from the floor in the second half,” Miller said, "it’s really hard to talk about anything else.”
