PUSSY GALORE-Y

Holy Honor Blackman! — It’s a glorious night in Westwood, as UCLA celebrates Russell Westbrook’s donation, and, for the second time this season, de-claws some highly-rated Wildcats; This time, Bryce Alford’s step-back 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left beats Arizona, 87-84

NBA Superstar (and former Bruin stud) Russell Westbrook recently made a huge donation to UCLA, which will help build a new Basketball practice facility next to Pauley Pavilion, with the court inside the new facility to be named after Westbrook.  To commemorate this generosity, last night was Russell Westbrook Night at Pauley, and with Russell and his OKC Thunder Teammates in attendance, the Bruins gave everyone even more to celebrate.

With an upset victory over the then-#1 Kentucky Wildcats already under their belts at Pauley, the Bruins did it again, this time shocking the #7 Arizona Wildcats, 87-84.  UCLA led throughout the game, behind surprisingly tight Defense, equally-surprising passing expertise, and even more surprising sharpshooting from the perimeter.  The Bruins parlayed these factors into a 14-point lead with about 6 minutes to go in the game.  But then Arizona went to work, finally hitting some shots and driving to the hoop, to tie the game in the final seconds.

That’s when Bryce Alford got the ball, used a Tony Parker screen to get a mismatch against a tall, slow defender, and stepped back to get enough space to drain a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left.  While Alford mugged for the cameras, Arizona came down the court to attempt the potential game-tying shot, but the shooter was stripped, and the game was over.

Alford led all scorers with 25, Parker got a double-double, making up for a rare off-night for Thomas Welsh, the Bruins hit 11 of 22 from Downtown, got 6 Assists a piece from Alford, Aaron Holiday and Isaac Hamilton.  Holiday may have had his best game as a Bruin, hitting several huge shots, and dishing his best assists of the year.  Jonah Bolden may have also had his best game.  He definitely had his best play — a baseline drive to the basket culminating with a posterizing dunk.

The Bruins are coming off a pathetic weekend where they went 0-for-2 at Washington and Washington State, with Alford and Parker really struggling (although Alford did hit a few uber-clutch threes to prolong the UW game), so it was CRUCIAL that the Bruins win last night, to avoid their first 0-and-3 start in Conference in about 33 years!  And win they did, barely.  This was the 4th time in a row where they have WON despite NOT being favored, at HOME.  If you can ever get the Bruins PLUS the points in Pauley, do it.

So consistency and motivation — not talent and ability — seem to be the issues for this year’s team.  With victories over Kentucky, Gonzaga, and Arizona on their resumè, a trip to The Dance is all theirs for the taking, or not, for the taNking, in the rest of the Conference schedule.  Looks like it’s up to Coach Alford to keep his squad focused enough to beat the teams that they should beat.  If he does just that, the sky’s the limit for a team that can beat anyone, on any given night.

[Note:  Just in case you don’t feel like Googling it, Honor Blackman is the actress who portrayed Bond Girl “Pussy Galore” in “Goldfinger.]