TUCSON, Ariz. — With seven straight victories over Arizona, UCLA has supplanted the Wildcats as the Pac-10’s dominant team.
Still, the fourth-ranked Bruins felt lucky to escape McKale Center with a 68-66 win on Sunday afternoon, behind freshman Kevin Love’s 24 points and 15 rebounds. The Bruins had to withstand a potential tying shot by Jerryd Bayless, which came up short.
The loss dealt a blow to Arizona’s hopes of extending the nation’s longest active NCAA tournament streak to 24 years. The Wildcats (17-12, 7-9 Pac-10) have lost six of seven.
“We knew we were going to get their very best effort today,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “Obviously it would have put them in the tournament if they would have won today.”
The Wildcats played with uncommon intensity on a day that Lute Olson, who has been on a personal leave of absence since Nov. 4, appeared on the floor to honor Arizona’s seniors after their last scheduled home game. Olson did not address the crowd and did not speak to reporters afterward.
Arizona’s emotions weren’t enough against the more talented Bruins, who are bidding for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“UCLA is a team that is difficult to guard, difficult to score against, and they play like a team that is desperate to win a Pac-10 championship,” Arizona interim coach Kevin O’Neill said.
UCLA (26-3, 14-2), remained one game ahead of No. 8 Stanford in the Pac-10 race. The Bruins meet the Cardinal on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
UCLA blew an 11-point first half lead and fell behind 47-43 early in the second half. But the Bruins rallied behind Love, who scored 15 points after intermission and had his 18th double-double.
“Kevin Love is a big dude,” said Arizona’s 6-foot-6 Fendi Onobun, who fouled out while guarding the 6-foot-10 Love. “It was tough having to play behind him the whole game.”
Love scored seven straight points late in the second half, capping the spurt with a three-point play that gave UCLA a 65-61 lead with 3:18 to go.
No. 1 Tennessee 63, Kentucky 60: At Knoxville, Tenn., Chris Lofton scored 14 points, including a jump shot with 1:15 left, and the top-ranked Vols beat the Wildcats to stay atop the Southeastern Conference.
The Vols (26-3, 12-2) squandered a big early lead in this one, then hung on to avoid consecutive losses for the first time this season.
No. 19 Michigan State 103, No. 12 Indiana 74: At East Lansing, Mich., Raymar Morgan scored 12 of his 20 points early to help the Spartans build a big lead and beat the Hoosiers, allowing the Spartans to finish undefeated at home and hand Dan Dakich his first loss as interim coach.
Michigan State (23-6, 11-5 Big Ten) led 59-31 at halftime after making 78 percent of its shots, including nine 3-pointers.
Eric Gordon scored 22 and D.J. White had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Hoosiers (24-5, 13-3) who had a chance to pull into a three-way tie with Big Ten leaders Wisconsin and Purdue.
No. 13 Louisville 68, Villanova 54: At Louisville, Ky., Juan Palacios scored 13 points in his final game at Freedom Hall to lead the Cardinals to a win over the Wildcats, setting up a showdown with No. 11 Georgetown next weekend for the Big East title.
Jerry Smith added 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead a balanced offense by the Cardinals (24-6, 14-3 Big East), who won their ninth straight and remained tied with the Hoyas for first-place in the Big East. The two teams meet in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Louisville beat the Hoyas 59-51 on Feb. 9.
No. 17 Notre Dame 98, DePaul 91: At Rosemont, Ill., Luke Harangody scored 24 points, Rob Kurz added 21 and the Fighting Irish hung on to beat DePaul to clinch a first-round bye in the Big East tournament. The Fighting Irish (22-6, 12-4) shook off a 90-85 loss at Louisville on Thursday that all but dashed their Big East title hopes, building a 47-31 halftime lead and starting the second with a 13-2 run that made it 60-32.
Pac-10 women
No. 7 Stanwood 74, Washington State 52: At Pullman, Wash., Candice Wiggins scored 24 points to pass Lisa Leslie and move into the top spot on the conference scoring list and the Cardinal beat the Cougars. The victory gave the Cardinal at least a share of their eighth consecutive Pac-10 regular-season championship. The Cardinal (27-3, 26-2 Pac-10) finished the season on a 15-game winning streak and will be the No. 1 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament.
Local
Whatcom CC 86, Everett CC 72, OT: At Kennewick, Whatcom CC went 12-for-15 from the free throw line in overtime to outscore the Trojans 16-2 in the extra period and earn a fifth-place finish at the NWAACC men’s tournament Sunday. Kamiak grad Chris Grounds scored 27 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had seven assists and Monroe grad Stephen Waltman had 12 points and 16 rebounds for Everett, which finished eighth.
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