UCLA
7-3
Cincinnati
9-2
UCLA Drops 77-63 Decision to Cincinnati
December 16, 2017 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA knocked down eight second-half 3-pointers, but No. 25 Cincinnati proved too strong as the Bruins lost, 77-63, before 10,018 in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.
Aaron Holiday led the Bruins (7-3) with 17 points, including 12 during a second-half surge that saw UCLA cut Cincinnati's game-high 19-point lead to 10 points. Jaylen Hands scored all 14 of his points in the second half, knocking down four shots from beyond the arc.
Kris Wilkes was UCLA's third player to score in double figures, totaling 12 points.
UCLA led Cincinnati by a 16-11 margin midway through the first half before the visiting Bearcats (9-2) used a 20-5 scoring run to lead, 36-21 with just over a minute to play before the intermission. Cincinnati entered the locker room at halftime ahead of UCLA, 36-23.
"We just had a really tough first half handling the basketball," UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. "If you take away the second half [last week] at Michigan and the first half against Cincinnati, in terms of turnovers, it puts us in a different position."
Kyle Washington scored a game-high 19 points for Cincinnati, which took advantage of 15 first-half UCLA turnovers and used an 18-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished. Jacob Evans added 16 for the Bearcats, while Gary Clark posted a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bruins did not trail until the 5:50 mark of the first half, when Jarron Cumberland's lay-in sparked a substantial run by Cincinnati. The visitors scored 18 consecutive points to lead by 15 (36-21) with 1:23 left in the opening half.
A pair of free throws from UCLA's Alex Olesinski halted the Cincinnati scoring run. The Bruins missed their final seven shots of the half after making eight of their first 14. Cincinnati accrued nine first-half steals to help secure a double-digit halftime lead.
Prince Ali scored all eight of his first-half points to lead both teams, while Olesinski pulled down six rebounds over the game's first 20 minutes.
The Bearcats twice worked their lead to 19 points over the first 7:22 of the second half, but consecutive 3-pointers by Holiday and Hands pulled the Bruins within 13. A Kyle Washington jumper put an end to a 0-for-7 Bearcat shooting drought, but not the Bruins' momentum. UCLA continued its hot shooting from beyond the arc, as Hands knocked down the sixth Bruin three-pointer of the half to cut the team's deficit to 10 points with 6:23 to go.
UCLA was unable to reduced Cincinnati's cushion into single digirts. The Bruins turned the ball over just three times during the second half, but Cincinnati took advantage of seven offensive rebounds and got to the line 15 times. The Bearcats knocked down five straight from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the victory.
The win gave the Bearcats a 3-2 edge in the all-time series. Saturday's game marked the first meeting in Pauley Pavilion between these two teams. Cincinnati's win on Saturday helped to avenge a 79-67 UCLA victory in the second round of last season's NCAA Tournament.
UCLA returns to action against South Dakota on Tuesday, Dec. 19, in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 6 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
