UA gets outmuscled on both ends of floor

In the second half the Wildcats allowed the Bruins to pull down 12 offensive rebounds in addition to their eight defensive rebounds. That allowed UCLA to shoot 48.4 percent from the field and dictate the tempo of the game.

"I don't know why we didn't get more rebounds," UA sophomore center Donnell Harris said. "We were in foul trouble, but I don't think that made us any less aggressive. I mean, they just came out and outrebounded us, that's all there is to it."

Going into Saturday's game, Arizona was second in the conference averaging 41.2 rebounds a game, and was outrebounding its opponents by three rebounds a game. Yet in Saturday's game the Wildcats seemed reluctant to block-out the athletic Bruin team, letting them sneak in for easy put-backs. UCLA finished the game with a 49-38 advantage.

"It gets frustrating to see that," UA sophomore guard Jason Terry said. "You have to have some heart out there and take it among yourselves to go out and get the ball off the boards."

That heart was exactly what UCLA senior forward Charles O'Bannon showed. O'Bannon was relentless, finishing with six offensive rebounds on the night. His 13 total rebounds nearly doubled that of the closest Arizona player.

"I just went out there to have fun today," O'Bannon said. "I knew this was a big game for us and I tried to spark our team when we needed it."

Arizona's deficiency in blocking-out became obvious when the Bruins went to the free-throw line in the last three minutes of regulation. UCLA missed their second free-throw twice, but managed to grab the rebound and keep the offense alive. The Bruins got four points from those two rebounds, easily the difference in the game.

"They were able to get in the lane any time they wanted and score or rebound," Terry said. "All we can do now is go back to the drawing board and see what we can do to try and beat Oregon State on Thursday."