Shipp happens: UCLA beats Cal
March 9, 2008
What a shot. What a comeback.
One thing I love about following UCLA basketball is you never get the feeling they’re out of a game. Sometimes though, they make the comebacks seem even more incredible and unbelievable than ever, like Saturday against Cal.
As the last few seconds ran off, it looked the Bruins’ might fall a bit short. Josh Shipp tried to drive to the basket, but was well-defended. So he improvised, and threw up a shot that went over the corner of the backboard and somehow went in. Amazing.
Bruins Nation’s Telemachus posted a video of Shipp’s epic shot here. The best I could do is post this highlight package of the game I found on YouTube (EDIT: blackjack from Gutty Little Bruins uploaded a YouTube clip of just the shot. Enjoy.)
I won’t get tired of seeing that shot for a long time. What happened right before it was pretty incredible too. Kevin Love hitting that three with under 20 seconds left. The turnover that followed it. UCLA was losing by double digits in the second half, just like they were against Stanford on Thursday. But they won both games.
I wouldn’t have liked it, but it would have been understandable if UCLA had lost to Cal. Just two days earlier, UCLA had clinched the Pac-10 title with a thrilling victory over Stanford. The game against Cal was the definition of a trap game, and it looked like it could be a repeat of 2007, when the Bruins clinched the Pac-10 with a win against Washington State and then lost to Washington.
That’s why it doesn’t bother me that the Bruins got down as far as they did and didn’t look sharp. I was just hoping for a win today, they can go back to playing well for a full 40 minutes at the Pac-10 Tournament next week and the NCAA Tournament after that.
(I got the photo from the AP/ESPN.)
Gilbert
Ben
March 10, 2008 at 12:44 pm
just making sure you realize that ucla didn’t deserve either win there.
March 10, 2008 at 1:13 pm
What do you mean by didn’t deserve the wins?
If you’re referring to the questionable calls by the officials, you obviously didn’t watch the whole game. The refs made bad calls that went both ways throughout the game. It all evens out. Cal and Stanford got some beneficial calls earlier in the game. Ask any Pac-10 basketball fan — Pac-10 refs are generally awful.
And even if the calls were wrong, UCLA still had to earn the victory. Shipp had to make the shot. Westbrook had to play aggressive defense in the corner. Against Stanford, Collison still had to make his free throws and UCLA still had to win in overtime.
One questionable call doesn’t lose or win a game for a team — 40 minutes does.