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Kansas Basketball vs. UCLA

SAN JOSE, Calif. — UCLA’s best player, by far, was guard Arron Afflalo. His 24 points led the Bruins to a 68-55 victory, but just as important was his ability to find open teammates in key situations.

Twice, with the ball in Afflalo’s hand and the shot clock running down, he made the right play and killed a Kansas rally.

On the final possession of the first half, Kansas cut the lead to one with a dunk from sophomore guard Brandon Rush. Holding the ball at the top of the arc, Afflalo engaged in a one-on-one match-up with Rush.

Instead of trying to get past Rush for the points, he passed the ball to forward Josh Shipp, who made a wide-open shot.

“When they hit that three at the half, the crowd got behind them, and they got the momentum after that,” freshman forward Darrell Arthur said.

In the second half Afflalo stepped up his game even more, scoring 15 of his points. With four minutes to play, and the Jayhawks cutting into the Bruins lead, Afflalo couldn’t find his way to the basket.

With the shot clock winding down, he swung the ball around the arc to guard Darren Collison. Collison made an improbable three-pointer as the shot clock expired that proved to be the game-ending dagger.

“They were prayers,” Rush said. “They were going in, so I guess there’s nothing I can say about that.”

Outside of those passes, Afflalo paced the UCLA offense, scoring at a steady pace and handling the ball in pressure situations. After the game, he remained modest about his playmaking ability.

“I was just fortunate enough to make some jump shots tonight,” he said.

His final stats included making 10 of his 15 shots and only turning the ball over 4 times in 36 minutes — an impressively small number against the Kansas press.

Kansas coach Bill Self credited him with being the best player on the court, and said that though the Jayhawk defense may have misplayed him a couple times, Afflalo’s points were mostly a result of him making tough shots.

“He made shots that were probably harder than a lot of the ones we missed,” Self said. “That’s why teams win in the tournament. They step up and make plays.”

Indeed, Afflalo’s performance resembled the entire day. The Jayhawks did everything they could defensively, but in the end UCLA found a way to get the ball in the basket. “Everything was falling,” junior forward Darnell Jackson said. “Everything was going right for them.”

Kansan senior sportswriter Michael Phillips can be contacted at mphillips@kansan.com.

— Edited by Stacey Couch