By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Staff
SAN JOSE, Ca – It was about as even of a match-up as they could
get. There were the shooters, the young guards and the coaches who
are famous for their hair. And while Bruin head coach Steve Lavin
may have the edge in the all-hair competition, it was Missouri that
took home the real prize on Thursday night, defeating the Bruins
82-73 in front of 18,040 at Compaq Arena.
It wasn’t that the Bruins weren’t prepared. They knew Missouri
(24-11) would go on a run. In fact the Tigers did everything UCLA
expected them to do – Kareem Rush got hot, they got defensive
stops, Arthur Johnson established position in the paint – it was
just that UCLA (21-12) couldn’t find a way to respond.
UCLA held a comfortable seven-point lead with 13:26 to go, but
upset-savvy Tigers weren’t about to throw in the towel. Rush was
just starting to click. With back-to-back three-pointers from Rush
and Clarence Gilbert, the Tigers clawed from behind to tie the game
at 57 with 8:18 to go.
"One thing led to another, and when you’re missing buckets and
they’re making them at the other end of the court, it’s hard to get
back in the game," Cedric Bozeman said.
Once the Tigers took the lead, at 60-59 with 7:38 to go in the
game, Missouri never looked back.
"Defensively, Missouri did a good job of really crawling into
the ball and pressuring us," Lavin said. "I have to give them
credit in terms of them getting stops defensively at the time of
the game that they needed to."
It was a back and forth battle from the start, with the teams
exchanging leads eight times in the first half. For every Rickey
Paulding bucket, the Bruins answered with one from Matt Barnes.
Rush was quiet in the first half, posting just four points. But the
Bruins knew better than to count him out.
"A player of that caliber is hard to stop," Bozeman said. "When
he hits one shot, then he gets on fire."
The shots fell for Missouri when it counted most. UCLA, a
.406-percent three-point shooting team coming into the game,
finished at just a .176-clip against Missouri. The Tigers, however,
found a comfort zone beyond the arc, draining four of four in the
last eight minutes from downtown.
"Sometimes you’re going to have bad shooting nights, but with
the type of shooters we have, its’ definitely a weapon," Rush said.
"We use it to our advantage, and tonight, the big reason we got
back in the game was the three point shot. If you have an open
shot, Coach told us to fire our bullets."
Barnes was really the only Bruin who found his rhythm. The
6-feet-7 inch forward took it inside and dared the defense from the
perimeter enroute to his game-high 23 points. Barnes pulled down 11
rebounds for a double-double.
But where the game was really decided was the paint. Missouri’s
Arthur Johnson fought his way in there in the second half, racking
up eight second-half rebounds, creating second-chance point
opportunities for the Tigers.
"The play in the paint was critical," Lavin said. "We never
established a low-post presence. It wasn’t necessarily about
scoring, but their post play allowed them to keep the ball alive
keep ball alive and created key tip-ins and key kick-outs for
three-pointers."
Missouri advances to the Elite Eight and will face Oklahoma on
Saturday.