TUCSON, Ariz — Riley Smith had 15 points, Tyger Campbell added 12 and UCLA shut down No. 23 Arizona for a 65-52 win on Saturday night.
The Bruins (13-12, 6-5 Pac-12) bounced back from an ugly loss to Arizona State with a superb defensive game and 9-of-17 shooting from 3-point range.
UCLA shot 51% overall and used a big second half run to pull away, handing Arizona its second loss in 12 games at McKale Center this season.
Arizona (16-7, 6-4) hung in with 3-point shooting in the first half, but missed all 12 of its attempts in the second. The Wildcats shot 25% and went 6 of 29 in the second half
Zeke Nnaji had 14 points and 10 rebounds, but shot 2 of 8. He made all 10 of his free throws.
Heading into Saturday's game, Arizona had been struggling to hold onto big leads.
The Wildcats blew a 22-point lead in a loss to rival Arizona State and, after sweeping the Washington schools, let most of a 20-point lead wither away in a win over USC on Thursday.
UCLA's run of quality games came to an end in a desert clunker on Thursday, when the Bruins were outplayed at both ends in an 84-66 loss to Arizona State.
Saturday's game was a 3-point shooting contest at the start.
Neither team hit a 2-point shot in the first seven minutes and nine of the first 12 made shots were 3s.
The 3-over-2 trend continued the rest of the half.
UCLA hit 6 of 10 from outside the arc, 4 of 13 inside it and led 29-28.
Arizona had a seven-minute span without a field goal of any kind.
The Bruins hit six of their first nine shots of the second half — four were 2s — to stretch their lead to nine.
Arizona answered with an 8-0 run to pull within one, but UCLA answered with a 14-1 run.
BIG PICTURE
UCLA got back to its winning ways with a strong all-around performance in one of college basketball's most difficult road environments.
Arizona has been led by freshmen Nnaji, Nico Mannon and Josh Green, but the freshman trio shot a combined 7 of 33 against the Bruins.
UP NEXT
UCLA hosts Washington State on Thursday.
Arizona is at California Thursday.
