When Arron Afflalo is shooting well give the ball to Josh Shipp. At least that was the working remedy on Saturday as the #5 UCLA Bruins (23-3), aided by 24 points from Shipp, sunk the #19 Arizona Wildcats (17-9) 81-66.
The Bruins went back and forth with the Wildcats throughout the first half and led at the break 35-34. In the second half UCLA began playing long-ball and connected on 8-15 three-point attempts to pull away from their Pac-10 opponent.
It wasn’t all Shipp for the Bruins as Darren Collison added a double-double with 17 points and 15 assists in the win. Collison’s 15 assists were two more than the Wildcats had as a team. Afflalo finished with 15 points on 6-16 shooting.
Arizona has now lost four of their last seven and dropped to 8-7 in the Pac-10. UCLA remained a game ahead of Washington State in the Pac-10, improving to 12-2 in conference play.