Fifth-ranked UCLA blows out Arizona State

LOS ANGELES - This wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. The Arizona State men's basketball team was in a funk. No. 5 UCLA was on a roll.

It wasn't pretty, however, but when the pain subsides following a torturous 84-51 loss to UCLA on Thursday night, the Sun Devils will want to both remember and forget this feeling.

In the here and now, they have 24 hours, because USC awaits on Saturday night.

The Sun Devils were never a threat to one of college basketball's glorious and historic programs, and perhaps this blowout offered a painful reiteration of how much work remains before ASU becomes a constant conference contender.

"It's an important one," said freshman Jamelle McMillan, whose team dropped its fourth straight. "If we don't it'll be a long rest of the season."

Conversely, the Bruins won their 12th game in 13 tries and seventh consecutive victory over the Sun Devils.

Thanks to Washington State's loss on Thursday night, the Bruins (19-2, 7-1 Pac-10) are up by two games in the conference standings and further entrenched themselves as a top-5 team in the country.

In other words, ASU fans who had hoped this one would be televised live are now happy it wasn't.

ASU coach Herb Sendek talked about his team's offensive struggles this week, namely a "lack of offensive balance," beyond James Harden (who appeared to struggle again with his groin injury and was held to nine points) and Jeff Pendergraph. As has been the case for a majority of this Pac-10 schedule, shooting was again a struggle (38 percent) Thursday night.

Those numbers were but a blip, because everything was a problem at Pauley Pavilion.

A few minutes after tipoff, the Sun Devils (14-6, 4-4) were in a hole. It didn't help that Jerren Shipp picked up two fouls in the first minute, but with or without Shipp, older brother Josh and UCLA were on a roll.

The Bruins whisked the ball around the perimeter, knifed through the lane and had ASU's defense scrambling every which way to keep up. UCLA had four players in double figures and shot a jaw-dropping 58.5 percent from the field, including 75 percent from behind the 3-point arc.

The Sun Devils looked one or two steps slow all night, and, on the rare occasion they weren't, the Bruins made their shots anyway.

"They capitalize on every letup," McMillan said. "If we can't hit shots, rebound or hold onto the ball, it'll get ugly pretty quick."

Freshman phenom Kevin Love was his normal self inside for the Bruins with his fifth consecutive double-double and 12th of the season (20 points and 10 rebounds).

But UCLA showed off its vast array of offensive weapons, the kind of versatility Sendek is trying to build at ASU.

This night showed the Sun Devils aren't there yet. UCLA shot 61 percent in the first half, hit 5 of 7 from the 3-point line by halftime.

During one seven-minute stretch, the Bruins scored at least one point on 10 consecutive possessions.

"I don't want to say we gave up, but we put our heads down," said point guard Derek Glasser, who led ASU with 13 points.

ASU allowed 59.7 points per game until Thursday, when the Sun Devils allowed 46, the most in a first half since Washington scored 52 on them in March 2005.

They trailed by 22 at halftime. From there, UCLA kept cutting, passing, shooting and scoring. The deficit - and frustration - only grew.

"It shouldn't be part of a process," Glasser said. "We're getting hit in the face every game. We've got to hit someone back."