Notebook | UW counted on Wallace to defend UCLA's Love

Luckily, the Washington Huskies didn't need Artem Wallace to win a free-throw shooting contest Sunday.

Wallace again struggled at the line, going 0 for 3, dropping his season average to 21.9 percent, and leading him to admit later, "It's all mental. I have to just keep working on it."

What the Huskies really needed out of Wallace on Sunday, however, was defense on UCLA center Kevin Love, and that they got. The 6-foot-10 junior led an effort that helped hold the freshman phenom to 13 points, six below his Pac-10 average.

Wallace's effort on Love was a big reason the Huskies beat No. 5 UCLA 71-61 as Love hit 3 of 8 field goals and didn't score at all until 3:16 remained in the first half.

Said Washington coach Lorenzo Romar of Wallace: "He's strong enough not to allow Kevin Love to push him all around the floor."

UCLA coach Ben Howland noted the relatively few shots Love got and said UW's pressure on the perimeter also played a role.

"They did a good job pressuring the ball," Howland said.

It was the fewest points for Love since he had 11 in a 69-55 win over the Huskies in Los Angeles on Jan. 10. But he disputed the notion UW had found an answer for him.

"They just took away shots," he said. "Last time I had six shots, this time I had eight and I think four of them were offensive rebounds. They really didn't do anything different [than anyone else].

"I was looking for the ball. ... I felt I was open and my teammates didn't find me."

Morris riles up Bruins

The game was intense throughout and grew testy when UW senior guard Tim Morris threw the ball off the face of UCLA's Alfred Aboya in the final minute. Morris was trying to prevent a five-second call on an inbounds play with Washington up five with 47 seconds left.

Morris immediately tried to apologize to Aboya, who noted the apology after the game. But some UCLA players began riding Morris about it, prompting Bruins coach Ben Howland to intercede.

"I threw it off his face and one of their guys said something like, 'Don't do that again,' and I said something back to them. And Howland said, 'Back up,' just trying to cool down the situation a little bit," Morris said.

Said Aboya: "They were doing everything they could to win. It's allowed."

Howland asked an official to penalize Morris but he said he was told that "there was nothing he could do."

Notes

• Romar won his 116th game as Washington coach, tying him with Bob Bender for fourth on the school's win list.

• Freshman Justin Holiday played nine minutes, put in specifically to defend UCLA's Josh Shipp, who led the Bruins with 19 points. Shipp scored two on Holiday.

UCLA
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Shipp	36	9-18	1-1	0-3	2	3	19
Aboya	20	2-2	2-3	1-3	0	3	6
Love	33	3-8	7-9	6-10	1	2	13
Westbrook	37	5-16	8-8	3-6	2	5	18
Collison	38	1-8	0-0	0-1	4	3	3
Keefe	20	1-5	0-0	2-4	0	3	2
Mata-Real	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0
Stanback	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Dragovic	7	0-4	0-0	1-1	0	1	0
	200	21-61	18-21	16-36	9	22	61

Percentages: FG .344, FT .857. Three-point goals: 1-16, .063 (Collison 1-4, Love 0-1, Keefe 0-2, Westbrook 0-2, Dragovic 0-2, Shipp 0-5). Team rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 7 (Love 4, Dragovic, Mata-Real, Aboya). Turnovers: 16 (Collison 8, Westbrook 3, Love 2, Keefe, Shipp, Aboya). Steals: 8 (Collison 3, Westbrook 3, Keefe, Shipp). Technical fouls: Collison.

WASHINGTON 71
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Wallace	28	2-4	0-3	3-9	0	3	4
Brockman	29	5-11	2-4	9-17	2	3	12
Overton	14	1-3	0-0	1-3	2	3	2
Morris	22	2-8	0-2	0-4	0	3	4
Appleby	29	2-6	6-7	0-1	3	3	12
Smith	4	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Dentmon	26	7-12	5-9	0-1	1	1	20
Brn-Amning	18	3-5	0-0	1-1	0	1	6
Holiday	9	0-1	0-0	1-3	1	1	0
Pondexter	21	4-9	3-5	1-1	2	4	11
	200	26-59	16-30	18-44	12	22	71

Percentages: FG .441, FT .533. Three-point goals: 3-7, .429 (Appleby 2-4, Dentmon 1-2, Pondexter 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 5 (Appleby, Wallace, Holiday, Bryan-Amaning, Pondexter). Turnovers: 16 (Appleby 4, Overton 4, Pondexter 3, Brockman 2, Bryan-Amaning, Smith, Dentmon). Steals: 8 (Bryan-Amaning 2, Appleby 2, Pondexter, Overton, Morris, Dentmon). Technical fouls: None.

UCLA	28	33	—	61
Washington	35	36	—	71

Attendance: 10,000. Officials: Dick Cartmell, Dave Libbey, Mark Reischling.