3/8/08
Attendance: 11,614
California took it to UCLA (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) for 38 minutes and 17 seconds Saturday. The Bruins escaped with a shot worthy of highlight reels for years to come.
Josh Shipp hit a rainbow jumper from behind the backboard with 1.5 seconds remaining to help rally UCLA from an 11-point deficit to an 81-80 victory, the Bruins' second close call in as many games.
UCLA's school-record 28th regular-season victory was in jeopardy until the very end. The Bruins trailed by four points with 31 seconds remaining, then freshman Kevin Love hit a 3-pointer off an inbounds pass from Darren Collison to make it 80-79.
Cal's Ryan Anderson was stripped of the ball in the left corner by Russell Westbrook. A stunned Anderson got up and looked at the referees, expecting a foul call.
"They clearly tackled me, maybe hit me and I fell to the ground looking for the foul and it didn't go our way," he said. "But that's UCLA, number [three] in the country and they're going to get respect. That's just frustrating, really frustrating."
The Bruins eventually got it to Shipp, who was falling out of bounds when he put up a one-handed floater along the right baseline.
"Lucky I play H-O-R-S-E," Shipp said, referring to the can-you-top-this driveway game. "It was definitely a desperation shot. I've never seen anything like that. It's one of those movie shots, it was like a dream."
The call against Anderson was more like a nightmare for coach Ben Braun and the Golden Bears.
"I feel bad for our guys," he said. "Anderson was fouled, but they didn't call it. No way that should have happened. The call should have been made. Our players should have won that game."
Tags: UCLA Bruins Russell Westbrook Josh Shipp Kevin Love Darren Collison Luc Richard Mbah Moute Alfred Aboya
