UCLA stays perfect
LOS ANGELES — The Washington Huskies never knew what hit them.
Top-ranked UCLA stunned the 14th-ranked Huskies with a game-opening 16-6 spurt and two big second-half runs in a 96-74 victory Sunday.
Arron Afflalo equaled his career high with 27 points and tied a season high with five 3-pointers for the Bruins (13-0, 2-0 Pac-10).
UCLA shot a sizzling 72 percent in the second half, when its 12-0 run dismissed Washington's only comeback attempt. The Huskies' 22 turnovers led to 34 points for the Bruins.
"When you're going up against the No. 1 team in the country, you have to be the one that throws the first punch, and we didn't do that," Washington freshman center Spencer Hawes said.
Darren Collison added 15 points and a career-high 12 assists for UCLA, which goes to Oregon for two games this week — its first major road trip since winning the Maui Invitational on Nov. 22.
Michael Roll added 15 points and Josh Shipp had 13 for UCLA, which had a season-high 29 assists, eight from Afflalo.
The Huskies (10-3, 0-2) have yet to win in three road games this season. They fell to 0-11 against top-ranked teams on the road, and 2-27 all-time against a No. 1 team.
"They basically picked us apart and there was not a whole lot we could do," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "They beat us in every way you could."
UCLA dictated an aggressive tone from the start, which launched a dominating 16-6 spurt that thrilled the season's largest crowd of 12,042 at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins opened the game with eight straight points, starting with Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scoring over Hawes, then dunking off his own steal. Afflalo scored, then stole the ball and fed Shipp for a fastbreak layup.
Washington failed to get off a shot in the spurt.
The theatrics continued when Collison stole an inbounds pass from Justin Dentmon and dunked on a fastbreak. Then Afflalo hit consecutive 3-pointers to send the crowd into a frenzy.
"It was great," Collison said. "It's going to be hard to beat us if we have that kind of intensity."
Washington got within four points, but the Bruins pushed their lead to 47-33 at halftime with part of a 15-0 run that extended over both halves.
Trailing by 20 points in the second half, Washington went to a zone that stymied the Bruins for a time. The Huskies used a 16-5 run to get to 66-55, with Ryan Appleby hitting consecutive 3-pointers and Brockman adding four points.
"We were getting right back in the game, but they stopped that," Hawes said.
UCLA recovered just as quickly, running off 12 straight points for a 78-55 lead with eight minutes left. Roll had consecutive 3-pointers and another basket for eight points.
Tyler Hansbrough scored 17 points and Brandan Wright added 16 for the Tar Heels (12-1), who won their ninth straight. The last six wins in the streak have been by an average of 33 points.
Alando Tucker scored 29 points to lead the visiting Badgers (14-1) to their 10th straight win as they continued their best start since the 1913-14 team went 15-0 for the season. Tucker's 3-pointer with 2:13 to play gave Wisconsin a 56-51 lead.
Josh McRoberts had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for the Blue Devils (12-1), who won their eighth straight overall and extended the nation's longest nonconference home winning streak to 50 games.Carlton Spencer scored 11 points for the Spartans (1-11), who lost their 12th straight against ranked teams.
Freshman Trevor Booker had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Clemson (14-0) continued its best start in 20 years.
