UCLA men’s basketball goes into epic lockdown mode, making history

Five days after easily notching triple digits in a blowout victory, the UCLA men’s basketball team showed what its defense could do.

A lot.

Smothering Arkansas-Pine Bluff with full-court pressure and halfcourt traps Wednesday night, the Bruins made so much as a clean pass difficult.

The Lions’ memories of the lockdown effort will involve flailing arms and multiple bodies in their way. Nearly every effort proved futile, particularly during the first half of ninth-ranked UCLA’s 106-37 victory at Pauley Pavilion.

The 69-point margin of victory set a program record, topping a trio of 65-point blowouts, the last coming against Portland in 1967.

There was also history made in the first half. Almost every Arkansas-Pine Bluff possession came up empty on the way to scoring only nine points by the game’s midpoint.

Take your pick of things that went wrong amid the Bruins’ relentless pressure.

The Lions made only 3 of 21 shots – missing all 9 3-pointers – while committing 21 turnovers in falling behind 51-9.

It tied for the fewest points UCLA (3-0) had allowed since at least the 1975-76 season after the Bruins also held Howard to nine points in the first half during a game here in December 1983.

The 42-point halftime margin was also a rarity, representing UCLA’s largest lead at that point in the game since at least the 2012-13 season.

UCLA didn’t let up much in the second half and finished the game with 19 steals, including four by Eric Dailey Jr. and three each by Jaylen Petty, Joe Philon III and Azavier Robinson.

Making their display all the more impressive, the Bruins were once again without center Xavier Booker (concussion) and forward Filip Jovic (sprained ankle).

The display was the latest encouraging development for a team coming off a victory over then-No. 5 Arizona and a 51-point clobbering of North Florida that – at the time – represented the program’s most lopsided triumph since beating Wyoming by the same margin in December 2008.

UCLA’s offense was in high gear once again Wednesday, with lobs repeatedly leading to dunks and the defense generating easy layups on breakaways.

Bruins freshman Nikola Kusturica scored 17 points to lead six players in double figures. UCLA was ahead so comfortably that it was able to insert student manager-turned-player Jordan Hougeban for the final 3 minutes.

Hougeban did not disappoint, draining a 3-pointer as his teammates roared in celebration from the bench. When seldom-used guard Markell Alston added his own pair of 3-pointers, the Bruins were up by 70 points.

This looks like a team capable of making a lot of history in a season just starting.

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