You really have to hand it UCLA: They aren’t making it easy to push them out of the tourney picture. Love ’em or hate ’em, the Bruins have put up a fight in this last stretch of regular season play, and certainly didn’t make it easy for Arizona to beat them 57-47 down in Tuscon last weekend. (AZ’s turnover troubles almost doomed them as it was, but that’s another story for another article.)
Now sitting at 4.5 games behind the Pac-12 leading Wildcats, UCLA has an opportunity to get right on Wednesday as they return home to SoCal to end the 2014-2015 season, starting with a tilt against the struggling Washington Huskies.
The month of February has not been kind to UW: Their 87-84 victory over WSU last weekend was the much-needed break in a seven game losing streak that started with a 77-56 loss to Utah back on January 25. However, guards Andrew Andrews and Nigel Williams-Goss have grown over the past few games, and appear to be filling in some of the gaps that were left by Robert Upshaw, who was dismissed from the team circa the Utah loss due to off-court issues.
If there is one area that Washington still hasn’t filled out yet, it’s their presence on the glass. UW is ranked 105th overall in rpg with senior Mike Anderson leading the team with an average 5.7. (Upshaw still holds the team-best of 8.2 average rebounds per battle.)
But that doesn’t mean the Bruins can get soft. What they really need is to win all three of their last games, which happen to all take place at Pauley Pavilion–refreshing after losing back-to-backs on the road to ASU and Arizona. Kicking the tri-gamer off with a victory over the Huskies is a good start.
Tip off for UCLA’s home matchup with Washington is scheduled for 8pm Pacific time.
*Section Photo credit to Stephen Dunn, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Richard Mackson, USA Today Sports
