On Saturday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to #7 UCLA on the road by a final score of 66-43. UCLA senior guard Jules Bernard (16 points & 9 rebounds) and junior guard/forward Jake Kyman (15 points & 5 rebounds) led the way for the Bruins while freshman guard Isa Silva was the top scorer for Stanford with 8 points on 3-5 shooting from the field and 2-3 shooting from 3-point range. UCLA improves to 16-2 overall and 8-1 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 12-7 overall and 5-4 in the Pac-12.
UCLA got off to a strong 10-4 start with 15:53 to go in the first half. UCLA was shooting 4-7 from the field with 0 turnovers. Stanford was shooting 1-2 from the field with 2 turnovers. James Keefe and Brandon Angel were on the board so far for Stanford.
Things continued to go UCLA’s way as the Bruins led 19-6 with 12:27 to go in the half. UCLA was on a 7-0 run over the last 1:27. UCLA was shooting 7-12 from the field with just 1 turnover. Stanford in contrast was shooting 2-7 from the field with 7 turnovers. Turnovers were the difference up to this point.
With 7:26 to go in the half, UCLA was up 29-10. Bernard was up to 8 points for the Bruins. Stanford was shooting 3-17 (17.6%) from the field with 9 turnovers. They were unable to get into any sort of flow on offense.
UCLA continued to lead up 31-10 with 3:52 to go in the half. UCLA was on an 8-0 run over the last 5:04. Stanford hadn’t scored in the last 5:28, continuing to struggle.
Stanford would soon go on a 6-0 run after Michael O’Connell got a steal plus a layup. 31-16 UCLA was up with 1:41 to go in the half. Stanford was lucky the were not down by more.
At halftime, UCLA would lead 37-18. Bernard was leading the Bruins with 8 points and 7 rebounds while O’Connell was leading the Cardinal with 6 points. UCLA was in control, but they should have been up by more considering how sluggish Stanford started.
With 15:47 to go, UCLA led 39-23. The Bruins were still sitting pretty, but Stanford was looking much better. After being held scoreless in the first half, Harrison Ingram was up to 5 points for Stanford, getting himself going with a tough corner three. He had to get rolling.
UCLA would lead 48-31 with 11:09 to go. Stanford was winning the second half 13-11 so far, shooting 5-10 from the field in contrast to UCLA, who was shooting 5-14. Stanford was trying to claw their way back, but that hole they dug themselves in to start the game was looking like it was likely too deep.
Stanford got within 13 points, but with 7:54 to go, UCLA was up 52-37. Stanford was looking much better in the second half, outscoring UCLA 19-15. Isa Silva had a couple of nice triples for Stanford. Stanford was shooting 7-14 from the field while UCLA was shooting 7-20. Stanford was still in a hole.
With 3:17 to go, UCLA was up 63-39 as they were now winning the second half 26-21. Bernard was leading the way for UCLA with 16 points and 9 rebounds while Kyman was up to 13 points. No Stanford players were in double figures.
In the end, UCLA walked out with a 66-43 victory. Stanford lost the second half by just four points (29-25), but that 37-18 halftime deficit proved to be too much of an obstacle to overcome. You cannot expect to win games on the road when you get down by so much.
Fortunately for Stanford, they got the road split this week with the win at USC on Thursday, so that definitely softens the blow from this loss. They’re still in the mix for an NCAA tournament spot and with a four game home stand coming up that will conclude with UCLA, they got an opportunity to make up some ground these next couple of weeks.
Up next for Stanford will be a home game against Cal on Tuesday to start that home stand. That game will tip-off at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Cardinal Sports Network radio.
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