By Morris Phillips

At the end of a mighty impressive half of basketball, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball turned toward the tunnel, pulled out his jersey, and casually ran ahead of his teammates, only looking up to reach a few, congratulory hands.

That Ball did this immediately after an unique, behind-the-back dribble into a cold-blooded, pull-up three from 26 feet at the buzzer to extend the Bruins’ lead to 20 said it all.

Yet, Ball said very little.

How could this freshman phenom–likely the most talented recruit to sign with the iconic program in the past decade–eschew a quick celebration with his teammates, or bother with a self-affirming yell after such a feat?

Well, welcome to the world of Lonzo Ball and the return to prominence of UCLA basketball.

Credit to Cal for not allowing the Hollywood stuff extend past halftime-the Bears methodically chipped away at UCLA’s lead, getting within five points with 46 seconds remaining–before succumbing 81-71 at Pauley Pavilion.

“We got careless offensively, the ball stopped moving, we got stagnant, and then we didn’t defend,” UCLA coach Steve Alford admitted. “In the first half, I thought that was as good of defense we have had any 20 minutes all year long, and then again we thought it was going to be easy and we shut it down in the second half.”

“Those are valuable lessons to learn. You can’t do that in this league.”

Cal’s lessons to learn list was slightly lengthier than UCLA’s, starting with the double teams thrown at post presence Ivan Rabb again were effective in slowing down the Bears offensively.  The Bears shot just 39 percent for the game, and managed only seven assists on 27 made baskets.

“They really guarded Ivan in the post, and they were really good at switching, which took away the pick and roll,” guard Grant Mullins said. “From that, it just made us rely more on defense.”

“We were really stagnant, and we took a lot of bad shots,” Rabb said.  “I just didn’t have what it took in the first half. I just had to remind myself to keep pushing; I should have really done that at the beginning of the game.”

UCLA (15-1, 2-1) took control early, scoring on seven, consecutive possessions at one point to establish a double-digit lead.  A good chunk of Bryce Alford’s game-best 24 points came during this run as the Bruins proved unselfish offensively as advertised.

Alford had plenty of help, starting with freshman T.J. Leaf’s 17 points, 11 rebounds and Ball’s 14 points, seven assists.  Ball wasn’t perfect; he missed six shots from distance, only hitting his halftime buzzer beater from three. And he wasn’t completely quiet either, barking at his teammates when the score grew tight in the second half.

“Lonzo came in as a quiet guy on the court but loud in the locker room and off the court,” Bryce Alford said.  “On the court he just takes care of business. His development on talking more on the court is not something we need from him all the time. But when he does talk he does a great job with it.”

“They really came back with a couple minutes left and we just didn’t guard,” Ball said. “That’s the one thing we have to keep working on. We know our offense is going to be there and it did again tonight. It’s the defense they we need to keep working on.”

Cal (10-5, 1-2) allowed as many as 44 points in a first half for the first time this season. The Bears have dropped three of four games in a five-game stretch featuring four ranked opponents with No. 25 USC up on Sunday.

Mullins led Cal with 19 points, Rabb added 17 points and a career-best 20 rebounds.  Don Coleman had his best outing of his career to date with 15 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Cal’s edge on the glass was mitigated by 13 turnovers, and UCLA’s six, blocked shots.

NOTES: The Bruins have won two straight after dropping their only game of the season–at the buzzer at pre-season, conference favorite Oregon.