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Did UCLA get tired or just lose what fight was left in them?

The welsh kid only played 18 minutes because of his foul trouble. I think that hurt UCLA a lot and it affected Leaf by him being out.
 
The welsh kid only played 18 minutes because of his foul trouble. I think that hurt UCLA a lot and it affected Leaf by him being out.
Tuff shit. And he was the ugliest player in the game. Looked cartoonish. He did play well when he was in the game.
 
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It looked like a race where we started our finishing kick and UCLA was like "I'm good with second". My friend the UNC fan made the same observation. Remember they completely quit against the 2015 team. Absolutely laid down their swords that game.
 
Guys,

Don't try to play UCLA as a inferior team because they're legit. They're a really good team and have great players all over the court. The difference was that we just took care of business, period. We played exactly how we needed to play and we won the game. It doesn't mean that UCLA is not a great team because they're an amazing team who was capable of winning the national title. We just happen to play an all around better game to get the win. But don't take anything away from UCLA, they weren't overrated, they weren't over hyped, they were legit and a damn good basketball team. They were completely outmatched in the 2nd half and still kept the game close with amazing shots. So, please don't try and take anything away from this amazing victory we had tonight. It was a great team win against an AMAZING opponent who could've easily won the national title had we lost this game. But we didn't cause we stepped up to the plate against a ****ing awesome team and took care of business like we should.


GO BIG BLUE!!!!!! Amazing performance!!!!!


Incredible win against an amazing team!!!


Let's do this!!!!


Excellent post. Too many in this thread not giving UCLA much credit and they are a very outstanding team. Did many on this board forget that they basically kicked our butt on our home court in December despite a flurry at the end to make it look like a closer game than it was? UCLA was legit, that's just how good we played last night. For 40 minutes we were the better team in this game and we showed how very much we have improved on defense since December. And, our offense finally showed some life of its own!!! To the poster saying no one is taking anything away from UK in here, that's just wrong. All the people mocking and putting UCLA down are indirectly taking away from the great effort put forth by UK. Simple as that.
 
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Why did we win?
Well on our side:

  • On defense UK harassed UCLA out of their offensive flow. UCLA hit some crazy shot, but couldn't get enough up because of turnovers and when they did miss they had no chance at offensive rebounds. UK has done something I did not think they could do: field an elite defensive team without an elite shot blocker. They've done it by becoming an aggressive, on the ball defensive team. UCLA ran their offensive early in the game and got some impressive plays at the rim, but moving the ball around all of UK's switches (with a hand in your face) is hard work, so they began settling for jumpers. A few jumpers brick, some foul trouble, and a bunch of turnovers equals a deficit UCLA couldn't overcome.
  • On offense UK used their quickness and athleticism to spread the floor and create situations where UCLA's guards had to man up with Fox or Monk one-on-one. As the lead grew, we became confident that we could grind out the shot clock and still get a good shot because Fox could always get it to the lane and Monk could almost always get "his" shot. The deliberate--almost transparent--nature of this attack (the same weave at the top of the key each possession, the same ball screen pattern) reinforced UK attitude: you know what's coming; you still can't stop us. Knowing that your opponent can dictate tempo, pattern, and shot selection at will is psychologically devastating. Couple that effect with the fact that UCLA doesn't particularly want to play defense and you have a team that, down the stretch, looked defeated and complacent. California Cool does not win championships.
And on their side:

  • On defense UCLA had one plan of attack and no back up plan: "Bam will not beat us." Every time Bam touched the ball he was swarmed by two to three UCLA defenders. This may have worked if Bam was actually the focal point of UK's attack, but we've been a guard oriented team nearly all year. (Seriously, did UCLA have any tape on us?) What UCLA should have done was employed some kind of offense that acknowledged their lack of lateral quickness at the guard spot. Nothing tears a defense apart at the seams like the straight-line drive, and Alford did nothing to negate Fox's ability to get to the lane at will. When Fox did to the lane, UCLA either rotated slowly (open threes for Willis and Hawk) or not at all (open floater for Fox). Of course, playing solid man-to-man for +20 seconds takes mental and physical discipline, which UCLA does not have. They could have played a zone all night and made us beat them with jumpers, but zone defense is predicated on discipline, and they don't have that.
  • On offense UCLA wanted to go fun n' gun, turn it into a track meet, and hopefully land a knockout punch early in the game. All year long they've worked this magic: hit your threes, then the opposition defense gets stretched, disoriented, and overaggressive; lanes open up and it becomes a dunk fest. The only problem is that UK defense never flinched. UCLA would hit them in the mouth, they'd stagger, and then come back harder the next possession. Alford bet that a he could wear down UK's confidence with a relentless scoring attack; Cal bet that he could break their will with a debilitating defense. We saw how that turned out.
 
to put it quite simply.....we played our A game. They eventually realized it was just our night.
 
Excellent post. Too many in this thread not giving UCLA much credit and they are a very outstanding team. Did many on this board forget that they basically kicked our butt on our home court in December despite a flurry at the end to make it look like a closer game than it was? UCLA was legit, that's just how good we played last night. For 40 minutes we were the better team in this game and we showed how very much we have improved on defense since December. And, our offense finally showed some life of its own!!! To the poster saying no one is taking anything away from UK in here, that's just wrong. All the people mocking and putting UCLA down are indirectly taking away from the great effort put forth by UK. Simple as that.

When people are saying that team could have been a 1 seed when lets be honest Wichita St played us closer than they did, then your able to say they are overrated.

They are a an excellent team on offense and a good team overall.

You can say a team is overrated and still give credit to how your own team has played. We would have beaten anyone last night but there's a reason we won by double digits.
 
The welsh kid only played 18 minutes because of his foul trouble. I think that hurt UCLA a lot and it affected Leaf by him being out.
And it hurt UK not having Willis for 14 minutes of first half. Dom being In foul trouble hurt as well. Welsh was push8ng shov8ng smacking bam all night. They made a trade. Shut bam out by fouling.
 
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