Full Nelson Earns UCLA Pac-10 Tournament Win

There was a moment late when it looked like Arizona might make one of the comebacks that have been its trademark this year. The Wildcats had cut the Bruins lead to five and the fickle mistress of momentum was making eyes at Arizona.

Then Reeves Nelson forced Arizona star Nic Wise to miss a layup, raced back on the break and finished the play with a layup off the assist by Malcolm Lee, and suddenly with 2:30 left, UCLA was up a more comfortable seven. More importantly, lady momentum was staring right at Reeves and the Bruins.

UCLA went on to beat Arizona 75-69, avenging two regular season losses. More importantly, the wins keep UCLA alive in the Pac-10 Tournament as they advance to the semi-finals (likely to face Cal).

Nelson, who had been out been out for a couple weeks after eye surgery and wearing protective glasses that clearly irritated him, had the kind of game that Kevin Love brought to the Bruins last time they went to the Final Four. He was fundamentally sound in the post, sealing off his man on offense and boxing out for rebounds. Nelson finished with a game-high 19 points on eight of nine shooting.

Nelson's inside opened up some outside shooting for the Bruins, and Michael Roll hit three of seven from beyond the arc and finished with 18. The rest of the Bruins were not impressive from deep, and as a team UCLA hit just 33 percent from three.

UCLA got to play the game at their pace, keeping Arizona out of transition and off balance. Bruin coach Ben Howland had his team switching from man-to-man to zone all game, never allowing too much of a comfort level for the Wildcats. The zone in particular led to an Arizona team that tried to do too much through isolation and little through actual ball movement (the opposite of how every coach from junior high on up tells you how to beat a zone). Only five of the Wildcat's 26 baskets were assisted.

Meanwhile, UCLA had 14 assists on 25 baskets and shot 64 percent from the floor for the first half.

While UCLA looked good, their Friday challenge will be tougher: the winner of the Oregon/Cal game. Which will be Cal. And the Golden Bears have been the best team in the Pac-10 this season, the only one that has really earned an NCAA berth even if they don't win the Pac-10 Tournament (which awards the conference's automatic berth in the Big Dance).

Cal has one of the best offenses in the nation, led by point guard Jerome Randle, recently voted Pac-10 player of the year. But back in January, UCLA beat Cal in overtime. For one game, anything can happen. That is the beauty of college basketball.

Kurt Helin lives in Los Angeles and is the managing editor of NBC's NBA blog Pro Basketball Talk (which you can also follow in twitter).

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