Getting there will take more time. Regardless of the scoreboard, the effort was much improved from last time, when No. 4 UCLA took Arizona State to task in Pauley Pavilion a month ago in a 30-point ASU loss. But it would take more than effort against the Bruins, who've faced opponents' get-hyped mentality against them for the better part of three years. It would take perfect execution, a bugaboo of the Sun Devils when they've lost games this season, particularly on offense.
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Those demons - and a pretty good opponent - surfaced in Arizona State's 70-49 loss to UCLA on Thursday night.
Shaquille O'Neal and Dan Majerle were front row at Wells Fargo Arena. So, too, were the Bruins, a large, athletic, experienced bunch with Final Four aspirations.
"That was a very important win for us," said UCLA coach Ben Howland, whose team stayed a game ahead of Stanford in first place in the Pac-10.
The Bruins buried ASU in a variety of ways by a variety of guys. Darren Collison made four 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. Josh Shipp had missed 20 consecutive from behind the arc until Thursday night, when he hit two in the first half, then a pair of 26-footers in the second half, as UCLA shot 58 percent in the final 20 minutes.
Kevin Love was, well, Kevin Love, with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the burly freshman's 17th double-double.
Put it all together, and it looked easy for the Bruins (25-3, 13-2) to overcome ASU's early swarm. They settled into their ways on offense, a sight worthy of their first-place standing and third consecutive season of 25 or more victories.
"They're tough to beat already, but when they hit 50 percent of their 3s, they're impossible," sophomore point guard Derek Glasser said.
Arizona State stayed with the Bruins, but in the blink of an eye fell behind by 11 points at halftime.
The Sun Devils shot below 40 percent for most of the night and couldn't stop the Bruins' constant cutting and moving. James Harden and Rihards Kuksiks each led ASU with 11 points, and the Sun Devils only managed 12 assists, a sure-fire sign of their shooting woes.
"It's hard to come back if they can't make shots," Glasser said.
This game was on its way to being one of the lowest scoring in Pac-10 history through much of the first half. The Sun Devils swarmed UCLA defensively, a stark contrast to the previous meeting when the Bruins ran and zipped passes for easy shots in the previous matchup.
Later on it happened, but not so early. The game was tied at 11-11 with seven minutes left, but UCLA was equally smothering defensively on ASU, which shot 33 percent in the first half.
"Very few things came easy for us," ASU coach Herb Sendek said.
A Ty Abbott layup off a pretty pass from Harden cut UCLA's lead to 23-18. But in a 60-second span, Harden missed a soaring dunk, Josh Shipp nailed a 3-pointer, Harden had his shot blocked and Darren Collison made his fourth 3-pointer of the first half at the buzzer.
Suddenly, it was 29-18 UCLA at intermission.
"That changed everything," Harden said.
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