UCLA downs No. 11 Utah

LOS ANGELES — Guard Norman Powell scored a game-high 23 points and guard Isaac Hamilton scored eight straight points during a key stretch of the second half as the UCLA Bruins defeated the No. 11 Utah Utes 69-59 in a Pac-12 game Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins (12-9, 4-4 Pac-12) used what could be described as a deliberate attack throughout the game, walking the ball up on offense, working it around the perimeter to take time off the clock and then looking for open lanes to attack the basketball.

Powell made nine of 16 shot attempts, the great majority of those coming on drives to the basket out of the UCLA halfcourt offense. Fueling a lot of that energy was the sting of a humiliating 32-point loss to the Utes in Salt Lake City on Jan. 4.

“This was a really big win for us,” Powell said. “We had some really bad losses to ranked teams. Today, as soon as we walked into the locker room, you could see that coach had written the score from the previous Utah game on the board. You saw that and it was just embarrassing. In that game we didn’t fight back, I was glad to see how this team competed tonight.”

The deliberate pace the Bruins conducted their offense helped them keep their turnovers down to just six while forcing the Utes into 14, eight of those coming by way of UCLA steals.

“We really competed, I loved our fight tonight,” said UCLA coach Steve Alford. “(Utah) was first in the league at turning teams over and we only had six for the game. That was especially important to start the second half; we had a terrific start to the second half, it was real important to build on our lead immediately, and we did.”

The Bruins, who led 33-30, at the half, built it to 41-30, on yet another Powell layup with 15:02 to go in the game.

For a team that not only came in highly ranked, but averaging 75 points a game while limiting opponents to 56, the Utes (16-4, 6-2) played a curiously tepid game. Utah rarely attacked the UCLA interior defense and never seemed to work up much of a sweat throughout the game.

“That was a tough game for us,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. “There were a lot of things we talked about doing the last couple of days that we just didn’t accomplish tonight. UCLA outplayed us and out-scrapped us.”

Hamilton’s 3-pointer with 7:57 remaining gave the Bruins a 56-41 lead and capped a personal run of eight straight points in less than 90 seconds.

Even after allowing Hamilton to dominate in that brief stretch, Utah still played at a speed usually reserved for a team leading.

One of the factors that may have kept the Utes off-balance was Alford’s constant switching of attacking defenses ranging from an extended 1-2-2 zone that attacked Utah ball-handlers, to an aggressive man-to-man to a full-court press. The Utes didn’t actually play poorly in terms of stats, they shot 48 percent from the field, but they never seemed to match UCLA’s energy or focus.

“We didn’t play with energy,” said Utah guard Delon Wright. “We waited for things to happen but they never came. One of the problems was when things weren’t going our way tonight, we couldn’t find out how to fix it.”

The Utes were led in scoring by guards Delon Wright, who had 15, and Brandon Taylor, who had 14.

The Bruins outscored the Utes 27-14 over the final 12 1/2 minutes for a 33-30 halftime lead.

After Utah took a 13-6 lead with 12:29 left, it seemed to be bothered by a UCLA zone that double-teamed its ball-handling guards and had a hard time getting into any kind of rhythm.

Meanwhile, UCLA was finding ways to exploit Utah’s interior defense, scoring inside often, especially Powell, who led all scorers with 12 first half points. Bruins guard Bryce Alford, who had gone scoreless on 0-for-10 shooting, had eight of UCLA’s first 20 points and his 3-point shot gave the Bruins a 20-17 lead with 7:12 left in the first half.

NOTES: Utah and the University of Virginia are the only teams ranked in the top 15 in both offensive defensive efficiency.