LOS ANGELES — His shot betraying him five days after an epic scoring performance, UCLA guard Johnny Juzang scanned the court in front of him on a fastbreak and spotted Jaime Jaquez Jr. streaking toward the basket.
Juzang flung the outlet pass from the backcourt toward his waiting teammate, who corralled the ball and got his layup to drop after it spun wildly around the rim. Jaquez was fouled on the basket and pumped both arms in excitement as he walked back toward Juzang to celebrate the play.
A lengthy sophomore slump in which Jaquez had not been his usual tenacious self ended in glorious fashion against Arizona on Thursday night. Giving himself the ultimate birthday present on the day he turned 20, Jaquez deflected passes, ripped balls away from Wildcats counterparts and scored in a variety of ways on the way to a career-high 25 points, powering the Bruins to a 74-60 victory at Pauley Pavilion.
It was just one of several bounce-back performances for UCLA. Coming off a quiet two-game stretch following an ankle injury, forward Cody Riley was strong with 10 points and four rebounds. Point guard Tyger Campbell was assertive with his floaters on the way to 13 points and guard Jake Kyman came off the bench to nab three steals in the first half and help set the defensive tone.
But no sight was as pleasing as Jaquez’s re-emergence. He made 10 of 12 shots and scored nine points in a row for the Bruins (15-5 overall, 11-3 Pac-12 Conference) during one late stretch, helping his team pull away and remain within one game of first-place USC in the conference standings.
Juzang was much quieter than he had been while scoring a career-high 32 points against Washington. He managed just nine points this time on four-for-15 shooting and got yanked briefly with 4:29 left after enraging coach Mick Cronin by needlessly fouling Arizona’s James Akinjo on a three-point attempt.
Akinjo finished with 21 points for the Wildcats (14-8, 8-8), who faded over the final minutes after failing to match the Bruins’ toughness.
UCLA returned home knowing that it needed to unleash all-out defensive effort to win after having surrendered 81 points to Washington State in its most recent loss. Playing with a short-handed roster that was light on stars even at full strength, the Bruins seemed to have finally realized that stops were what they needed to propel them toward where they wanted to go.
The Bruins trailed 31-30 at halftime, which could have been considered a victory given they missed all 10 of their three-pointers and Riley repeatedly missed easy shots around the basket or had them blocked.
UCLA’s struggles from long range put one lengthy streak in jeopardy. The Bruins had made at least one three-pointer in 705 consecutive games, last getting shut out by Stanford on Feb. 3, 2000. Jules Bernard extended the streak to 706 games with 14:43 left in the game when he sunk the first three-pointer the Bruins attempted after halftime.
Both teams were missing difference-makers. UCLA played its fourth consecutive game without forward Jalen Hill, who remains away from the team for personal reasons, and guard Chris Smith, who has been lost for the season with a knee injury. Arizona was missing guard Jemarl Baker (hand) and forward Ira Lee was quiet in his return from an ankle injury that had forced him to miss two games, going scoreless in five minutes.
Cronin continued his dominance in the head-to-head rivalry with Arizona counterpart Sean Miller, having won all four games between the teams since joining the Bruins. Adding insult to misery, Miller suffered an unceremonious exit from the Wildcats’ loss to UCLA last season inside Pauley Pavilion after being ejected for picking up two technical fouls.
What happened Thursday wasn’t any more pleasing.
