UCLA Basketball: Bruins Break the Road Jinx at Maples

After beating Stanford in overtime in OPUG, the Bruins had a chance for a season sweep on Thursday night, and came through with another nail biter. After building up a 22 point lead with 11 minutes to play, the Bruins went cold, but hung on for a 69-67 win.

Norman Powell had his 4th straight 20 point game, coming off his conference player of the week award on Monday, to lead all scorers. Isaac Hamilton had a monster game, scoring 18. Bryce also contributed 18, but somehow it didn't feel the same. Please feel free to comment in the thread whether you agree or not. Maybe it is that Bryce came up small down the stretch, particularly at the free throw line. But points are points, regardless of when they are scored, so maybe I am being too harsh. Tony Parker and Kevon Looney only had 13 field goal attempts between them, less than either Norman Powell or Bryce individually. Let's not pound it inside, I guess.

On Stanford's side, Chasson Randle was held in check after going off for 32 points the first time around. This time he only scored 13, including 1-8 from beyond the arc.

Here is the box score.

With the Bruin win, there is now a three way tie for third, with UCLA, Stanford and Oregon all deadlocked at 6-4, two games behind Utah in the loss column and three behind Arizona. If Oregon State holds on in Pullman, the Beavers will also be 6-4, creating a real logjam in the race for the 3rd and 4th spot in the conference standings, and the resulting 1st round bye in the conference tourney.

If the next "mission complete" milestone is to get a first round bye, the Bruins took a huge step towards that goal tonight. Let's hope they can maintain the momentum against Cal.