Alexander: Are UCLA's Bruins champion difficult?

< img alt=" UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (24) shoots over Northwestern guard ..." class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes="vehicle" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078050241173-2.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078050241173-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078050241173-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078050241173-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078050241173-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078050241173-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" > UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr.( 24) shoots over Northwestern guard Brooks Barnhizer( 13) during the first half of a second-round college basketball game in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif.( AP Photo/Jos é Luis Villegas). < img alt=" UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr.( 24) leaves the court following ..." class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" automobile" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078121840333-4.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078121840333-4.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078121840333-4.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078121840333-4.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078121840333-4.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078121840333-4.jpg?w=1860 1860w" > UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr.
( 24) leaves the court following the group's success over Northwestern in a second-round college basketball game in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. UCLA won 68-63.( AP Photo/Jos é Luis

Villegas). < img alt=" UCLA guard David Singleton (34 )is assisted off the court ..." class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" car" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127849963-2.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127849963-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127849963-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127849963-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127849963-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127849963-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" >
UCLA guard David Singleton (34) is helped off the court throughout the second half of the team's second-round college basketball video game against Northwestern in the men's NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, March 18, 2023. UCLA won 68-63. (AP Photo/Randall Benton).


< img alt=" UCLA guard Dylan Andrews( 2) commemorates near completion of ... "class =" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" automobile" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127860285-2.jpg?w=620 "data-srcset =" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127860285-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127860285-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127860285-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127860285-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127860285-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" > UCLA guard Dylan Andrews (2) commemorates near the end of the team's second-round college basketball game against Northwestern in the men's NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, March 18, 2023. UCLA won 68-63.( AP Photo/Randall Benton). < img alt=" Northwestern center Matthew Nicholson, left, is fouled by UCLA forward ..." class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" car" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127862550-2.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127862550-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127862550-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127862550-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127862550-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078127862550-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" > Northwestern center Matthew Nicholson, left, is fouled by UCLA forward Adem Bona throughout the 2nd half of a second-round college basketball video game in the men's NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, March 18, 2023. UCLA won 68-63.( AP Photo/Randall Benton). < img alt =" Northwestern guard Chase Audige( 1) shoots over UCLA guard Dylan ..." class="lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" car "data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078128628705-2.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078128628705-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078128628705-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078128628705-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078128628705-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078128628705-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" >
Northwestern guard Chase Audige (1) shoots over UCLA guard Dylan Andrews (2) throughout the 2nd half of a second-round college basketball video game in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. UCLA won 68-63.( AP Photo/Jos é Luis

Villegas). < img alt=" Northwestern guard Boo Buie (0) drives to the basket during ..." class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" vehicle" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078129676675-2.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078129676675-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078129676675-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078129676675-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078129676675-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078129676675-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" >
Northwestern guard Boo Buie (0) drives to the basket during the 2nd half of the group's second-round college basketball video game versus UCLA in the men's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. UCLA won 68-63.( AP Photo/Jos é Luis

Villegas). < img alt=" UCLA guard David Singleton shouts while being dealt with by the ..." class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes=" car" data-src=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078136191918-2.jpg?w=620" data-srcset=" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078136191918-2.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078136191918-2.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078136191918-2.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078136191918-2.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AP23078136191918-2.jpg?w=1860 1860w" >
UCLA guard David Singleton yells while being dealt with by the group fitness instructor, as coach Mick Cronin joins them, during the 2nd half of the team's second-round college basketball game against Northwestern in the males's NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. UCLA won 68-63.( AP Photo/Jos é Luis Villegas).

Show Caption of.
Broaden.
SACRAMENTO-- In the end, it came down to strength. Psychological, physical, and any other type of durability you can think about.

UCLA is still alive in the NCAA tournament due to the fact that it survived a crucible Saturday, 40 minutes of grown-man basketball. The Bruins struck Northwestern hard early, weathered a haymaker in the second half, had actually enough delegated finish off the Wildcats and advance to the Sweet 16 ... and along the method they also weathered the panic of what might have been another serious injury.

When senior guard David Singleton went to the floor clutching his right leg in the final minute of UCLA's 68-63 victory, the whole arena feared the worst, not simply those in UCLA's taking a trip celebration. A team that currently lost its finest defensive player, Jaylen Clark, for the season 2 weeks back, and then had huge guy Adem Bona suffer a shoulder injury throughout the Pac-12 competition, had to have actually been wondering who was sticking pins into which voodoo doll.

However this one shouldn't be devastating. Singleton was helped off the flooring and down the tunnel, but reappeared on the bench by game's end and was walking progressively after the video game. UCLA spokesperson Alex Timiraos verified that Singleton had a somewhat sprained best ankle, which likely would not avoid him from playing when the Bruins play once again Thursday night in Las Vegas versus either TCU or Gonzaga.

Similarly, Bona played 21 minutes in his very first game back after his injury, suffered last Friday night versus Oregon. He had one moment in the second half when he aggravated his shoulder, went to the bench briefly, then returned to the video game.

" He's extremely sore," coach Mick Cronin said. "If he gets hit on it in any way, he's aching.

" The reality that he's out there reveals you what a warrior he is. I mean, he's playing with a brace on. He could get a hit on it, he could grab a ball. Any kind of movement is going to intensify him, and it's just going to be like that.".

It's strength. It's the characteristic that Cronin brought with him from Cincinnati 4 years ago, and it is what has helped push these Bruins to 31 success-- and, as it ends up, the highest staying seed in the West Region after Kansas was stunned by Arkansas Saturday.

It's what both of these groups possessed, in three. It made it possible for UCLA to survive despite being outrebounded 34-28 and quiting 14 offensive rebounds to Northwestern (22-12). It made it possible for the Wildcats to overcome a 12-point first-half deficit to tie the game with 11:26 left, and it enabled the Bruins to shrug off the 17-4 Northwestern run that had erased that lead.

" They're a grizzled, tough group," Cronin said. "They struck some tough shots. (Boo) Buie hit a step-back 3, (Chase) Audige struck some tough ones. Their hustle on the offensive glass really troubled us. And it didn't amaze me that they came back at us.".

The feeling was shared.

" That was just a hard-playing video game, guy," Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. "We understood they were going to do that. I believe the greatest compliment for these people (his team) is I believe they know we were going to do that too.".

Audige verified that.

" We kind of understood it was going to be a war," he said. "We started really, really cold. I believe I airballed my very first shot, hit the side of the backboard with my 2nd one. We were trying to hang our hat on defense and attempt to get as many stops as we could.

" I suggest, credit to UCLA. We expected to play that type of video game today.".

And possibly this is what has actually put these Bruins in position to contend for their first championship game in 28 seasons. They do not scare, and they don't fluctuate.
The charm, and frequently menstruation, of March Madness is that expectations can surpass a team. Favorites can find themselves beat by groups that have nothing to lose. That's happened in this competition, specifically-- and in this place, particularly, where Arizona and Missouri were removed by a Princeton group that isn't enabled to have one scholarship player, under Ivy League rules.

No one will ever know if those gremlins exist in the minds of the Bruins. They've lost 5 times this season, and the just one that might have been thought about questionable was the February loss to USC at Galen Center-- which was a Trojan team that lost by 2 at Pauley Pavilion and probably was much better at the time than it got credit for.

Otherwise, this is a workmanlike team. Cronin is fond of saying that "fun is spelled W-I-N," and he repeated after Saturday night's video game: "We simply try to teach men how to play winning basketball.

And you know you've made an impact when veteran gamers enhance those tenets.

" I think I told (the freshmen), after you play your very first game you're not actually a freshman any more," Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. Coach takes pride in the players he hires to this program.

Amari Bailey is the most noteworthy example, but Bona, Dylan Andrews and Will McClendon have actually played considerable roles, and in truth it was Andrews' 3-pointer with nine minutes left that helped blunt a Northwestern run, and his two complimentary throws with 20.3 seconds left-- right after Singleton's injury-- that assisted put it away.

See, the kids are tough, too.

jalexander@scng.com.