Pauley Pavilion–Stanford’s guard Tyrell Terry scored a career-high 24 points they led Stanford over UCLA 74-59 at Pauley Pavilion for the first time in 15 years on Wednesday.
The Cardinal bigs’ continually slipped behind the Bruins for easy baskets and the guards were often running down the court for easy layups.
UCLA has lost six of seven games and has not won on its home court since the early part of December.
The Bruins visibly upset with his players Wednesday night after they faded out badly over the final 20 minutes of the game to Stanford.
“When the going gets tough,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said, “we don’t have a lot of guys who get going. When the going gets tough, we have some guys who will fold. We lack toughness.”
Stanford (15-2 overall, 4-0 Pac-12 Conference) pulling away for its first victory on the Bruins’ home court since 2005 while remaining the only unbeaten team in the conference.
The Bruins trailed by one before a 12-2 run in the early second half gave the Cardinal a double-digit lead that the held for much of the contest.
“As the game goes on, our softness shows up,” Cronin said after his team was outscored 41-28 in the second half. “Our selfishness at times is evident and it’s been probably to people who have watched us all year on the offensive end, some of the shots we take and the turnovers because certain guys don’t want to pass the basketball.”
UCLA (8-9, 1-3) are going backward with their third consecutive defeat gave them a losing record for the first time this season. They are heading for their first losing season since 2015-16 if they can’t get together in the next few weeks.
Bruins’ guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 15 points and forward Jalen Hill was strong across the board with 14 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and two steals.
David Singleton scored 11 points, two assists, and no turnovers in 32 minutes. Prince Ali played just one minute, missing his only shot.
“We just have guys who refuse to listen and follow the rules, so therefore they don’t get to play,” Cronin said. “So if you want to ask me about a certain guy, that’s the answer. To be honest with you, I had to keep playing certain guys that I don’t even think they deserved it. But I didn’t want to put others back in, so I was running out of guys.”
About the only fight, UCLA showed in the final minutes came when Cronin picked up a technical foul.
“I was just trying to show the guys that you’ve got to compete,” Cronin said.
The Cardinals forced the Bruins into 16 turnovers, which they converted into 21 points. UCLA scored 10 points of 12 Stanford giveaways.
Stanford’s lead ballooned to as many as 19 points. The Cardinals’ shot 47.1 percentage from downtown, with Terry and Spencer Jones (14 points) both knocking down four treys.
Bryce Wills chipped in 10 points and grabbed a team-high-tying six boards for Stanford.
UCLA (8-9, 1-3) cut the deficit to single digits with 9:26 remaining in the game when Jalen Hill scored two of his 14 points on a layup, but the Cardinals responded with a 19-8 spurt over the ensuing seven minutes to end any hope of a comeback.
Hill indicated that the players were very upset they were not producing better results for their new coach.
“He’s given us everything in practice and he’s had our backs for the longest time,” Hill said. “It hurts to see that because there’s a lot of people in this world that don’t have your back and we’re failing him right now, to be honest.”
The Bruins had prevailed in its last 13 home games vs. Stanford, 12 of them at Pauley Pavilion and the other at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
In the half-court, the Cardinals attacked UCLA on the interior. The Cardinals finished with 30 points on the blocks and shot 51.1 percent on field-goal attempts that was the difference in the game.
