‘Today was just perfect’ – Kansas 87, UCLA 70
Vaughn impressed with win over Bruins
It proved fitting that Jacque Vaughn had his No. 11 jersey retired on Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.
Nobody likes in-your-face defense — the kind of ‘D’ the No. 19-rated Jayhawks exhibited in an 87-70 victory over UCLA on Saturday — more than Vaughn, who combined with Jerod Haase to form one of the best defensive units in KU history.
“Today is just perfect,” Vaughn said after watching the Jayhawks pluck seven steals the first half in building a 48-25 halftime lead. “To see the guys come out and play hard like that against UCLA — a team I said no to so I could come to Lawrence, Kan. — that is special.”
Defense may not make the highlight reels on SportsCenter too often, but it does please old-school guys like Vaughn, a former Los Angeles high school standout, and his mentor, KU coach Roy Williams, who gave a thumbs up to Vaughn’s jersey retirement ceremony and to KU’s team defense.
The Jayhawks held UCLA to 38.7 percent shooting, including 7-of-21 three-point marksmanship.
“Defensively we were sensational the first half,” Williams said after KU improved to 6-3 entering winter break, compared to the Bruins’ 2-4 mark. “We broke the game open with steals, coming down and all of a sudden it’s an 18-point game.”
Nobody personified KU’s team defense more than 6-foot-9, 255-pound power forward Nick Collison, who had three steals the first half.
He plucked two steals in the passing lane, converting shots on the other end both times during a 14-0 run that built a 33-11 KU lead with five minutes left before break.
Collison was no slouch on offense — he had 18 points off 8-of-13 shooting — but his steals and buckets seemed best to characterize KU’s day. He finished with four steals.
“Nick has great footwork, great fundamental skills taught to him by his father,” Williams said.
Collison applauded the defense of Kirk Hinrich, who scored 27 points and held UCLA standout Jason Kapono to a miserable 5-of-14 shooting night, good for 13 points.
Kansas' Christian Moody leaps into the air celebrating a Kirk Hinrich three-pointer. Hinrich had a game-high 27 points in the Jayhawks' 87-70 victory over UCLA on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Kirk did a good job the first half not letting him touch the ball,” Collison said. “Our team defense made it tough on everybody.”
Hinrich received some help from Keith Langford, who guarded Kapono after Hinrich was whistled for his second foul in the first half. Michael Lee also took a turn on Kapono, who bricked four of five three-point tries.
“I had to ask Keith, ‘Did you ever think I’d put you on the other team’s best scorer?” Williams said of Langford, who last year as a freshman wasn’t known as a defensive stopper. “That’s how he’s matured. Kirk was sensational, Keith … Aaron made better decisions and played well tonight, also.”
Aaron Miles had nine assists to go with his two turnovers. He also had two steals as UCLA committed 10 turnovers the first half, 15 overall.
“It always starts with defense,” Miles said. “Our defense was the key. When we’re doing well defense is always the key.”
“It was a fun game. When we play defense, it makes it fun,” Langford added. “We learned today we can depend on our defense. Our defense pulled us out of a lot of holes.”
Hinrich lives up to billing
UCLA could do nothing against KU’s man-to-man defense early. The Jayhawks plodded to a 14-2 lead seven minutes in.
“We actually wanted to be able to back-cut against their pressure and get the ball inside ourselves and get ourselves some fouls and high-percentage looks,” said UCLA coach Steve Lavin.
The Bruins bricked 14 of 21 threes and were buried during a 14-0 KU run that boosted a 19-11 lead to 33-11. That’s the stretch in which Collison plucked his two steals, converting the thefts into buckets.
“But because of the turnovers, their pressure rattled us. We shot the ball too quickly,” Lavin said. “That combination led to their run-outs because we weren’t playing set defense.”
The Jayhawks didn’t play as well the second half, as UCLA outscored the Jayhawks, 45-39.
The Bruins used a 16-6 run to slice the gap to 11 points at 75-64, but never were able to get a game-high deficit of 26 points — at 48-22 late in first half — to single digits.
“We’d like to have played better in a stretch in the middle of the second half,” Williams said. “You will not play great basketball for 40 minutes as much as I’d like to. UCLA showed determination. It was a 23-point game and they kept playing. They killed us on the boards the second half.”
UCLA outboarded KU 25-16 the second half.
“The first half was an A,” Collison said, “the last half a C or D.”
KU will next meet Cal-Berkeley at 2:30 p.m. CST on Saturday in Oakland, Calif.