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No. 7 Arizona Basketball takes down the No. 3 UCLA Bruins

By Eric Townsend

TUCSON, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 03: Center Christian Koloko #35 of the Arizona Wildcats motions to the crowd during the second half of the NCAAB game against the UCLA Bruins at McKale Center on February 03, 2022 in Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Wildcats won 76-66 against the UCLA Bruins. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
TUCSON, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 03: Center Christian Koloko #35 of the Arizona Wildcats motions to the crowd during the second half of the NCAAB game against the UCLA Bruins at McKale Center on February 03, 2022 in Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Wildcats won 76-66 against the UCLA Bruins. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images) /
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TUCSON, AZ – In front of a sold-out crowd, No. 7 Arizona Basketball (18-2, 8-1), avenged their previous loss over No. 3 UCLA (16-3, 8-2), winning 76-66. 

It was an electric atmosphere from the start as No. 7 Arizona Basketball took on No. 3 UCLA in the second matchup between two Top 10 teams in the past 10 days.

Kerr Kriisa had a much better performance this time, finishing his evening with 16 points and five assists on 4-14 shooting. Meanwhile, Azuolas Tubelis looked a bit more like himself, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds in just 19 minutes of play.

From the start, Arizona looked a lot better in this one, climbing out to a six-point lead after the first 6:08 of game time.

UCLA would keep this one close for a little while, pulling within three points with 11:37 to play. Unfortunately for the Bruins, Arizona’s offense would take off, outscoring UCLA 25-9 over the next nine minutes of the game to take the 42-25 lead, their largest of the game.

The Bruins would end the half on a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to 12 as Arizona led 42-30 going into halftime.

A back and forth second half would keep this one competitive before Arizona Basketball would close the door on UCLA in the final minutes.

Anticipating a UCLA surge in the second half, the Bruins would keep this one close, pulling with six with 12:37 to play.

Luckily for Arizona, even with their offense mostly being disjointed in the second half, they continued scoring, keeping their momentum going, and more importantly, their lead intact.

Unfortunately, UCLA would make things a little tense, pulling within three after Jamie Jaquez made a layup with 3:52 to play.

Fortunately for Arizona, the Wildcats would close things out here, ending the game on a 12-5 run to defeat UCLA 76-66, retaining their first-place lead in the Pac-12 Conference standings.

So where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

With the win, the Wildcats improve 18-2 (8-1) on the year and will have a couple of days off before they return to action on Saturday afternoon when they take on No. 19 USC in another conference showdown!

Listen to coach Tommy Lloyd following the teams’ win!

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