UCLA Western Kentucky Live Coverage

Guide Note: In the regional semifinals of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, the #1 UCLA Bruins faces the #12 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This page will provide play-by-play live coverage of this game.

Fast Facts:

When: Thursday March 27, 9:40 PM ET
Where: US Airways Center in Phoenix
Television Coverage: CBS Sports
Game Announcers: Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
UCLA Head Coach: Ben Howland
Western Kentucky Head Coach: Darrin Horn

Team	1st	2nd	SCORE
NCAA West Regional Semifinal - March 27
#1 UCLA Bruins	43	45	88
#12 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	20	58	78

UCLA Western Kentucky Live Play-by-Play Coverage

GAME OVER, Western Kentucky made it close with improved shooting and some steals in the final ten minutes of the second half but were unable to overcome Kevin Love's inside game. UCLA advances to play Xavier in the next round.

(15.3)UCLA: Russell Westbrook fouled, hits 2

(37.0)UCLA: Kevin Love fouled, hits 2

(47.1)UCLA: Russell Westbrook fouled, hits 2

(49.1)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton nails a long 3

(56.4)UCLA: Josh Shippfouled, hits 1

(1:11)UCLA: Russell Westbrook fouled, hits 2

(1:25)UCLA: After some fast exchanges Luc Richard Mbah a Moute fouled, hits 2

(2:12)UCLA: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute fouled, hits 1

(2:26)Western Kentucky: Jeremy Evans puts back a miss, fouled, misses free throw

(3:00)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee lays one in, lead down to 10

TIMEOUT, after some fast exchanges UCLA is up by 12 coming into the final minutes of the game. Western Kentucky has the energy but they are going to need to force the Bruins to make a few mistakes to win this one.

(3:53)UCLA: Kevin Love scores 2 off a putback

(4:30)UCLA: Josh Shipp hits a 3 with heavy coverage, lead back to 9

(5:13)UCLA: James Keefe fouled, hits 2

(5:39) Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee fouled behind the arc, hits 2

(5:55)UCLA: Kevin Love with 2 off a rebound

(6:55)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton blows by the D and lays one in, lead down to 4

Timeout, Western Kentucky is on a tear, the lead is down to 6. They are shooting much better and creating turnovers. UCLA is on their heals.

(7:23)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton hits 2nd 3 in a row after a turnover

(7:47)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton answers with a 3

(8:03)UCLA: Darren Collison nails a 3 after a near steal

(8:47)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton fouled, hits 2

(9:08)UCLA: Kevin Love fouled, hits 2, UCLA lead is 11

(9:47)Western Kentucky: Josh Shipp picks up his fourth foul against Tyrone Brazelton, he hits both

(10:02)Western Kentucky: A.J. Slaughter fouled, hits both

TV Timeout, the Hilltoppers have cut the lead to 13 and are outscoring UCLA by 10 so far in this half. They are shooting much better and creating plays on the fast breaks and causing turnovers.

(11:11)Western Kentucky: A.J. Slaughter nails a 3 on the fast break

(11:51)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee lays on in off a steal

(12:28)UCLA: James Keefe dunks from the baseline, fouled, hits 1

(12:51)Western Kentucky: Boris Siakam fouled, hits 2

(13:30)UCLA: Kevin Love drives in and picks up a quick 2

Timeout, UCLA - UCLA is faltering a bit. Howland wants to make sure his team has their heads together.

(13:36)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee steals it and goes the distance for 2

(15:28)UCLA: James Keefe puts in 2 after the missed Love free throw

(15:26)UCLA: Kevin Love fouled going up strong, hits 1 , he now has 19

TIMEOUT, looks like Western Kentucky still has some life in them, but they are still down by 16.

(16:13)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton scores on the fast break

(16:20)UCLA: James Keefe puts back a miss after a full court pass

(16:53)UCLA: Kevin Love fouled and hits 1 of them

(17:28)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee drains a long 3 pointer

(17:42)UCLA: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute lays on in after some great passing

(17:52)Western Kentucky: Boris Siakam fouled, hits 2

UCLA calls a timeout, Howland wants to make sure his team does not let the Hilltoppers inch their way back into this one.

(18:10)UCLA: Kevin Love again with an easy inside 2

(18:39)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee drives and scores, W Kentucky is on a 5-0 run

(19:16)Western Kentucky: Ty Rogers hits a runner, fouled, nits the free throw

HALFTIME: The game was tied at 13 early on but UCLA has pulled away. Western Kentucky is not shooting very well and is throwing the ball away frequently and is giving the game away. Kevin Love has 13 after dominating in the paint and Josh Shipp looks confident.

(26.1)UCLA: James Keefe fouled hitting a bunny, hits the free throw

(0:51)UCLA: Josh Shipp puts in 2 with a nifty drive an lay in

(1:34)Western Kentucky: Boris Slakam fouled, hits 1

(1:44)UCLA: Kevin Love fouled going up strong, hits 2

(2:22)UCLA: Josh Shipp drives and lays one in

(3:09)UCLA: Kevin Love scores his 13th down low, he's unstoppable right now

(4:16)UCLA: James Keefe gets two off a putback, first score in a few minutes for either team

Timeout for the Hilltoppers after Shipp's 3 to calm down. He's been having shooting problems in the first few games of the tournament. It would be a big boost to the Bruins if he could get back into the groove.

(6:42)UCLA: Josh Shipp nails a 3

(7:13)UCLA: James Keefe scores 2 off a putback, UCLA up ten

(7:29)UCLA: Russell Westbrook slashes to the lane and puts one in

(7:51)UCLA: Russell Westbrook fouled, hits 1

Timeout, UCLA is not converting after turnovers but are shooting so much better from the field than Western Kentucky that they still have a healthy lead.

(8:13)UCLA: Kevin Love with 2 more from inside

(10:22)UCLA: Russell Westbrook hits a 3 from the wing

Timeout, Western Kentucky is doing a great job of keeping up with UCLA but will really need to do a better job of guarding Love underneath if they want to have a chance with this one.

(11:40)UCLA: Kevin Love gets 2 off of and board and the put back

(13:05)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton nails a 3, game tied

(13:16)Western Kentucky: A.J. Slaughter fouled, hits both

(14:14)UCLA: Alfred Aboya lays one in after a steal

(15:01)UCLA: Kevin Love gets 2 more down low

(15:25)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee drains a 3

(15:31)UCLA: Josh Shipp sneaks in back door and slams one home

(15:50)Western Kentucky: Tyrone Brazelton fouled, hits 1

Timeout, UCLA has been able to convert on their fast break opportunties, this is keeping the pace relatively slow. It does not look like W Kentucky does not have an answer for Kevin Love underneath the basket, he's got 5 so far.

(16:40)UCLA: Josh Shipp fouled on fast break, hits 1

(16:44)Western Kentucky: Courtney Lee hits a long 2

(16:58)UCLA: Kevin Love gets two going up strong, fouled, hits the free throw

(17:28)UCLA: Darren Collison fouled on a fast break, hits 1

(18:21)Western Kentucky: D.J. Magley gets 2 off a putback

(19:16)UCLA: Kevin Love gets a strong 2, fouled, misses the free throw

(20:00) UCLA controls the tipoff, Game on!

2008 West Region Bracket

All games airing on CBS

First Round
March 20 & 21
Sites TBD

Second Round
March 22 & 23
Sites TBD

Regional Semifinals
March 27
US Airways Arena, Phoenix AZ

Finals
March 29
US Airways Arena, Phoenix AZ

UCLA

Miss Valley St.

UCLA

Texas A&M

BYU

Texas A&M

UCLA

W. Kentucky

Drake

W. Kentucky

101

W. Kentucky

San Diego

UConn

San Diego

UCLA

Xavier

Purdue

Baylor

Purdue

Xavier

Georgia

Xavier

West Virginia

Arizona

West Virginia

Duke

Belmont

UCLA Western Kentucky Pre-Game Analysis

The top-seeded Bruins have taken the mantra 'survive and advance' a little bit too literally. After their blow out win over Mississippi Valley State in the opening round, the Bruins thought just showing up would be enough against Texas A&M. They struggled to get Kevin Love the ball on the low block where he could dominate, and other players such as Josh Shipp and Russell Westbrook disappeared for large stretches of the game. But if you haven't seen the Bruins this year, the come-from-behind victory over Texas A&M was a microcosm of their season: fly out early in the first five minutes, play the rest of the first half and most of the second half on cruise control, and then really push the gas pedal to the floor in the final five minutes. At some point, the Bruins may not be able to just flip the switch, and will need a much more concentrated effort to go all the way. And the thing is, had Aggies sharpshooter Josh Carter not gone ice cold in the final 10 minutes, the Bruins would be at home watching the rest of the tournament. The Hilltoppers will have a chance to pull the upset if Courtney Lee and Tyrone Brazelton continue to help WKU shoot at a 40% clip from 3-point range. The key defensively will be to try and take Love away down on the low post, so look for Jeremy Evans and D.J. Magley to not only double team Love, but also will try to front him and deny entry passes. If they do this and they get Love to drift out in the perimeter, as he did against the Aggies, the glass slipper could stay on the collective Hilltoppers feet for another round.

UCLA Western Kentucky Live Coverage

UCLA Western Kentucky Live Play-by-Play Coverage

UCLA Western Kentucky Bracket

How They Got Here

2008 West Region Bracket

UCLA Western Kentucky Pre-Game Analysis

UCLA Western Kentucky Live Coverage News

UCLA Western Kentucky Live Coverage Blogs and Commentaries

Related Searches