Spirits were at a high when UCLA brought the deficit down to three points. Just minutes later, the Bruins were able to reverse that to a three-point lead of their own. Looking at the past two days in the Pac-12 Tournament, ‘tis the season for an underdog’s comeback.
In this case, it’s a bear. Friday night, No. 5 seed UCLA showed its claws in the semifinal, upsetting No. 2 seed Stanford 69-65 inside Michelob ULTRA Arena.
The Cardinal dominated the first half of the game, shooting 48.4% from the field. The Bruins, on the other hand, were having a hard time shooting through the Cardinal’s tight wall of defense. By the end of the first quarter, Stanford was heating up on a 6-0 run over a 2:21 stretch.
The Cardinal continued to have their share of fun in the second quarter: their largest lead of 16 points appeared with 1:39 to go. It’s no wonder that the Bruins couldn’t shoot — Stanford junior forward Cameron Brink is second in the country in blocks per game.
“Stanford’s identity is scoring from the inside out and dominating people on the glass,” UCLA Head Coach Cori Close said. “When you look at so many of their close games, against USC, they were like 34 to 2 in the paint. It’s just where their bread and butter lies.”
Indeed, 40% of Stanford’s score came from shooting in the paint. Yet, somehow the Cardinal lost momentum in the second half, allowing the Bruins to catch up from behind.
“We knew [the Bruins] were going to come out big in the second half,” Stanford senior guard Haley Jones said. " I just don’t think that we matched their energy in the second half.”
Starting from the third quarter, UCLA worked hard to bring down the deficit, doubling shooting from their first quarter to 40%. On the other side of the ball, the Bruins’ defense improved, leaving Stanford in a scoring drought for the last 2:07 of the quarter.
The last quarter was when the Bruins chopped down the tree.
Freshman guard Kiki Rice’s jumper at 2:07 put UCLA ahead 60-59 and gave the Bruins their first lead since 2-0 in the first quarter.
Rice poured out 22 points — a new career high capped off with the final point of the game.
“I hit my first shot, and then after that maybe I missed a few times,” Rice said. “But when I got pulled out, Coach was putting the confidence in me and telling me what adjustments I needed to make. That’s really what allows me to go back in the game and figure out my assignment, knowing what to do and also having all my teammates on my back.”
The Cardinal didn’t give up — junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu made a diving layup from the field when there was 50 seconds left, cutting Stanford’s deficit to one point.
After two timeouts, the Bruins were quickly back on their feet and made their free throws down the stretch. When Stanford committed another team foul in the last five seconds, it was over for the Cardinal.
“As thrilled as we are for this game and this is a monumental win, we didn’t come here to beat Stanford in the semifinals,” Close said. “We came here to pursue a championship at the highest level.”
No. 5 seed UCLA will face No. 7 seed Washington State for the Pac-12 Tournament championship Sunday at 2 p.m.