RED-HOT BRUINS CRUISE INTO SWEET 16
No. 12 seed Stephen
SAN DIEGO F. Austin made a name for itself with a second-round upset but Sunday ran into one of the biggest names in NCAA tournament history and one of the hottest teams in this tournament.
UCLA, which has won more NCAA tournaments (11) than anyone else, ended the Lumberjacks’ Sweet 16 dreams with a 7760 victory. Since the beginning of the Pac-12 tournament, the Bruins have been on a tear, with four double-digit wins and an upset of Arizona in the Pac-12 final.
Now the Bruins (28-8), in their initial season under coach Steve Alford, are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008, when they made their third consecutive trip to the Final Four under former coach Ben Howland.
“It’s good to see us back in that mix, back in that discussion,” Alford said.
The Bruins will play a South regional semifinal in Memphis against their tournament nemesis, Florida, which beat UCLA in the national title game in 2006, a national semifinal in 2007 and a third-round game in 2011. The Gators are the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.
“We’ve been playing well, and they’ve been playing well,” Bruins point guard Kyle Anderson said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. You’ve got to have fun with it. ... This is what guys come to UCLA for.”
The Bruins certainly had fun Sunday against Stephen F. Austin (32-3), getting their running game going and sharing the basketball creatively, resulting in layups and dunks. The Bruins finished with 22 assists and only three turnovers and shot 54.7% in ending the Lumberjacks’ 29-game winning streak.
“They’re a very good basketball team, and they’ve got a chance to go a really long way,” Lumber- jacks coach Brad Underwood said. “They annihilated us with their transition. To see that size and athleticism, that’s why they average 82 points a game.”
As expected, the Bruins’ tall backcourt — 6-9 Anderson, 6-5 Jordan Adams and 6-4 Norman Powell — was a tall order for the Lumberjacks to handle. They combined for 50 points, Adams leading the way with 19. Anderson had 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
“In the last three weeks, I think Kyle’s proven he’s the best point guard in the country,” Alford said.
Anderson said an improved defense has fueled the Bruins’ hot streak the last two weeks, and part of that defense is a zone that Alford has used liberally.
Asked what his old coach at Indiana, Bob Knight, would think of him using so much zone defense, Alford chuckled.
“Coach probably isn’t too thrilled about as much zone as we’ve been playing, but it’s been really good for us,” he said.