Photo credit: gostanford.com

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, January 27, 2018

The UCLA Bruins, behind the one-two offensive punch of Aaron Holiday and Kris Wilkes, cruised to an 89-73 Pac-12 men’s basketball victory over the Stanford Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California.

Holiday led the Bruins (15-7 overall, 6-4 Pac-12) with 21 points and Wilkes added 18. Thomas Welsh, who suffered a knee injury in UCLA’s win over California on Thursday, was back in the starting lineup and produced 12 points and 10 rebounds. Bruins point guard Jaylen Hands added nine points and 10 assists.

Daejon Davis paced the Cardinal (11-11, 5-4) with 23 points, 10 assists and four rebounds. Dorian Pickens scored 16 points, Michael Humphrey had 12 points, and Reid Travis led Stanford with seven rebounds while scoring 11 points.

Davis has scored a combined 45 points against UCLA this season. He posted 22 points in the Cardinal’s first meeting with the Bruins.

After winning five of its first six conference games, Stanford lost its third straight Pac-12 contest.

The Bruins took a 38-27 lead in the first half, sparked by a 14-0 run that included seven points from Holiday. After the halftime break, UCLA built a 22-point lead with 11:40 remaining, doing most of the damage in transition.

UCLA outshot the Cardinal 53 percent to 46 percent, and made 53 percent of its 3-point attempts. The Bruins also sank 92 percent of its free throws, and held a 33-28 rebounding edge.

The loss squares the regular season series between the two schools. Earlier, on Jan. 4, the Bruins lost to Stanford in double-overtime. UCLA has won its last 12 home games against the Cardinal.

Up Next: Stanford returns home this week for home games against the Oregon schools, hosting Oregon State on Thursday at Maples Pavilion. Tip-off is at 8 p.m.