The Ucla Bruins have transmitted their good regular season form to the 2017 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament. On Thursday in a match between two teams from Los Angeles, the Bruins ended up on the winning side against the USC Trojans, 76-74. It was a good display from the Bruins, who were in charge for the whole match and eventually did manage to clinch the win.
UCLA had a 14-point lead with five minutes and four seconds on the clock in the first half, and were up by 11 points with just over nine minutes to go in the second half. However, USC decided to fight, and did narrow the defficit to three points, 74-71 with just over a minute to go -- but their attempt fell short in the end.
Lonzo Ball helped UCLA with an all-around good performance
UCLA Bruins star Lonzo Ball didn't have a big night when it came to scoring. However, his contribution was there as he had an all-around performance, putting up 12 points along with seven assists, four rebounds, a steal, and a block in 33 minutes on the floor. Isaac Hamilton, a senior guard of UCLA, led the way for his team with 22 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the field, and 4 of 9 from beyond the three-point line. Along with Ball and Hamilton, two other UCLA players ended the game in double-digit scoring -- TJ Leaf netted 14 points and Thomas Welsh added 11 points.
No team has defeated UCLA twice this season
Just three teams can say that they have handed a loss to the UCLA Bruins in the 2016/2017 campaign.
The Arizona Wildcats, Oregon Ducks and USC Trojans had that privilege. The Bruins are currently on a 10-game winning streak -- they have yet to drop a match since January 25th in a loss to the Trojans. On Thursday, the Trojans could have become the first team to beat UCLA twice on the season, but their attempt fell short and the Bruins now have a 2-1 season series lead over their city rivals.
Now it is all set for a big Pac-12 tournament semi-final on Friday, when UCLA takes on the Arizona Wildcats. Earlier in 2017, Arizona defeated UCLA in Los Angeles and the Bruins ended on the winning side against the Wildcats in Arizona. Both teams hope to reach the Pac-12 final, and it remains to be seen if Arizona can be the first team this season to outgun UCLA two times.
