No. 2 UCLA Upset by Washington [David Stefanini]

The second ranked team in the nation, UCLA, suffered a 61-51 defeat today at the hand of Washington. Washington never trailed in the game and at one point held a 16 point lead over UCLA.

I would not worry to much about this game if I was a UCLA fan. They shot only 31% from the field, mainly because they simply could not hit a jump shot. Most of their shots rimmed in and out; some days those things happen and their is nothing you can do about it.

Even with all their troubles, UCLA cut Washington's lead down to 1 point with 2:58 remaining in the game. That was the last point UCLA would score, as Washington closed the game on a 9-0 run. This is a loss which UCLA can and will shake off rather easily. As I said they played as poorly as they could and still had a decent chance to win the game at the end.

Do not get me wrong and think I am saying Washington didn't deserve this win, they most certainly did. They came out knowing they need nothing but W's the rest of the way, to have a shot at making the tournament and that is exactly what they did. From the opening tip they controlled the tempo of the game and had UCLA where they wanted them.

UCLA will do well in the tournament and Washington needs to win their conference championship to get in. Washington took a step forward towards doing that today, as UCLA probably got their worst game out of them before it really matters.