Living Dangerously
by Jonah Keri
Sun, 23 Mar 2008 at 12:26 AM
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 Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty
UCLA's Kevin Love wrestles for a ball with Joseph Jones of Texas A&M during tonight's UCLA victory in the second round of the NCAA tournament. |
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Give UCLA full credit for a masterful defensive performance in the second-half of their come-from-behind 53-49 win over Texas A&M. The Bruins roared back from a 10-point deficit to win it, with the clinching play a shot from Donald Sloan blocked by Josh Shipp, after the entire Bruins defense collapsed on the Aggies ballhandler. So ferocious was UCLA's defense that A&M at one point scored just three points in a span of more than 10 minutes. Three points.
That blue-collar approach is a staple of the Ben Howland-era in Westwood. Whether the offense is clicking on all cylinders or stuck in neutral, Bruins denizens know they'll get an all-out commitment to defense every game. Defense has spearheaded many comebacks for UCLA in the past, including the famous Gus-Johnson-just-had-a-heart-attack win over Adam Morrison and Gonzaga. This season, UCLA has found itself trailing in the second half time and time again, only to bottle up their opponent and score just enough to win.
The big question is this: Can the Bruins get away with 35 minutes of sluggish offense against a team like North Carolina or Kansas, and expect the defense to bail them out? It's debatable. UCLA has made the Final Four in each of the past two seasons, only to get knocked out by the same loaded Florida team. No one squad owns as much talent and experience as the Gators did last season. But the fact remains that the Bruins still have to prove they can beat a truly elite team when the stakes are at their highest.
The one ace in the hole that UCLA has now that it didn't in the past two seasons is a dominant big man. Kevin Love has been every bit as great as advertised for the Bruins, providing everything from stout rebounding to a shot-blocking threat, inside and outside scoring, and the best outlet pass in the country.
Point guard Darren Collison proved to be the offensive star for the Bruins, scoring 21 points, including two straight running lay-ups to win the game. But just before those possessions, Love dazzled the highly partisan Anaheim crowd with two tough, contested fallaway jumpers, one to create the first tie of the second half, the second to give UCLA its first lead. Just before those two sequences, CBS color commentator Jay Bilas and I were competing to see who could yell loudest over the Bruins' repeated inability/refusal to feed a wide-open Love in the post. Get the ball to Love more often and maybe the Bruins won't need a miraculous 20 minutes of defense to score a last-second win over a second-tier Big 12 team, let alone stand a chance against the Jayhawks or Tar Heels.
Meanwhile, CBS announcer and ball of excitement Gus Johnson finally got to unleash the beast a bit in Denver, as Pittsburgh and Michigan State delivered an entertaining game for about 38 minutes. The two teams swung back and forth through most of the game, before Spartans guards Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas took over. In one stretch of just over two minutes, Neitzel hit back-to-back shots, nailing two threes and a long two to extend Michigan State's lead. Lucas did the rest, taking Levance Fields and anyone else who tried to guard him off the dribble. The pair combined for 40 of Michigan State's 65 points, as the Spartans won by 11.
If the Spartans get Memphis next round, look for the Tigers' athletic perimeter defenders to shut down Neitzel and Lucas and win handily. But if Mississippi State can knock off Memphis, which is highly possible, it's anyone's guess who'd move on to the Elite Eight from there.
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