UCLA
5-1
UC Irvine
3-5
No. 23 UCLA Downs UC Irvine, 87-63
November 26, 2017 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – All five UCLA starters scored in double figures Sunday as the Bruins defeated UC Irvine, 87-63, before 8,329 in Pauley Pavilion.
Prince Ali led all scorers with a career-high 21 points, including 16 in the first half.
Thomas Welsh secured his fourth double-double of the season for the Bruins (5-1), totaling 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Aaron Holiday (16), Kris Wilkes (14) and Gyorgy Goloman (12) rounded out UCLA's list of double-figure scorers.
Max Hazzard led the Anteaters (3-5) with 18 points, including five 3-pointers.
"We did a good job of taking them out of their posts, which is what they are very good at," UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. "This is probably the best low-post team we have played, and we really negated that from the opening tip. I told our team that we wanted 40 minutes, and I think we got about 32. The last two minutes of the first half and the first six minutes of the second half were not [how] we need to get engaged, defensively."
Ali opened the game with a four-point play to give the Bruins a 4-0 cushion. Following an Elston Jones free throw by UC Irvine, with 10:50 to play before halftime to even the score, the Bruins scored 13 consecutive points to secure a 28-15 cushion.
Ali's ensuing jumper put UCLA on top, 32-18, marking the Bruins' largest lead of the first half. The Bruins led UC Irvine at halftime, 38-29.
"I just treated it like any other game," Ali said. "Come in, play defense and be aggressive."
Hazzard made his first four three-point attempts early in the second half to help the Anteaters close the gap to 45-43 with 16:21 remaining. In all, UC Irvine made 10 shots in a row over a near-seven-minute span (between both halves).
After UC Irvine had twice reduced UCLA's second-half lead to two points, the Bruins answered with 10 straight points, capped by a lay-in from Holiday at the 12:59 mark to give UCLA a 55-43 lead.
UCLA worked its lead to as many as 27 points with just under two minutes to play. Goloman scored all of his career-high-tying 12 points in the second half.
The Bruins shot nearly 47 percent in the second half against UC Irvine on Sunday, knocking down 17 of 24 free throw attempts after the intermission. In all, UCLA made 26 of 40 free throws.
Sunday's win – UCLA's fifth in its first six games – came five days after the Bruins had finished a back-to-back swing in Kansas City, Mo. UCLA had lost to Creighton last Monday, 100-89, before responding the next night with a last-second 72-70 win over Wisconsin.
Up next, the Bruins will host CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday, Nov. 29, in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 7 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' game against the Roadrunners will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
Sunday's game marked the first of four consecutive home games for UCLA. In addition to next Wednesday's game against CSU Bakersfield, the Bruins will host Detroit Mercy on Sunday, Dec. 3, and Montana on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
