Lute Olson says he doesn’t care about the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament.
But when his top-ranked Wildcats lost to Steve Lavin’s UCLA Bruins in the tourney opener, it might’ve gotten a lot more fans to care.
UCLA’s Ray Young hit a high, arching three-pointer with less than five seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime, which the Bruins dominated to shock No. 1 Arizona, 96-89. UCLA, which only got into the Pac-10 Tournament with a win over Washington on Saturday, provided the biggest shock of the tournament’s opening day.
UCLA, often accused this season of being a team that doesn’t care, obviously cared about Thursday’s game. Senior Jason Kapono, who finished the game with 26 points, sang “Stayin’ Alive” to the Fox Sports Net cameras in his postgame interview.
“Our team has been through a lot this season,” Kapono told the television station.
That’s an understatement. UCLA struggled to nine regular-season wins, faced criticism all year and rumors that head coach Steve Lavin would be fired at the end of the season. But the Bruins have now won five of their last seven, including three in a row.
“We’re a different team this past month,” Lavin said. “We’re definitely playing our best basketball at the end of the year.”
That was evident when the Bruins faced the Wildcats on Thursday. UCLA jumped out to an early lead, leading by as many as seven points with 12 minutes gone in the game. But Arizona stormed back and took the lead on a Luke Walton lay-in with 1:43 left in the first half. Arizona dominated the start of the
second, extending its lead to as many as 12 points.
But UCLA somehow came back on the top team in the land. The Bruins cut the lead to six points with 9:03 left in the game on a Dijon Thompson dunk and free throw. Four minutes later, Thompson hit a three-pointer with 5:49 left to cut the lead to three.
The teams traded baskets until the end. Arizona’s Salim Stoudamire hit two free throws with 11.1 seconds left to put the Wildcats ahead by three. That’s when Young hit his insane jumper to send the game into overtime. In the extra session, Arizona’s Jason Gardner missed four three-pointers, setting the tone for a lackluster Wildcat performance, and the Bruins capitalized for the win.
UCLA advances to face Oregon in today’s semifinal, set to tip off at 6:15 p.m.

USC topples Stanford
Desmon Farmer was upset he didn’t make the All-Pac-10 Team. USC saw two upsets earlier in the day.
So, naturally, USC went out and upset Stanford, 79-74.
The Trojans, behind Farmer’s 24 points, jumped out to a lead midway through the first half and never relinquished it en route to the third-straight upset of the Pac-10 Tournament’s opening day.
“I feel bad (Farmer) didn’t make All Pac-10,” USC coach Henry Bibby said. “But he played great tonight.”
The biggest shot of the night came from Rory O’Neil, who hit a three-pointer with 1:13 left to make the score 77-74 in favor of USC.
In the closing seconds, Stanford failed to capitalize on several opportunities to pull even or overtake USC. With less than 30 seconds left, Stanford’s Josh Childress missed a three-pointer, Nick Robinson missed the putback and USC’s Errick Craven was fouled. But he missed his third and fourth free throws in a row to give Stanford hope. On the other end, Julius Barnes missed a three-pointer and USC went on to win.
No seed lower than a No. 2 has ever won the Pac-10 Tournament. But with No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Stanford now knocked out, that will happen this year.
In Thursday’s nightcap, No. 3 California became the only top seed to survive, as the Bears blew out Oregon State, 69-46.
The first game of today’s action tips off at 6:15 p.m., while the second game will tip off at 8:45 p.m., or half an hour after the first game ends. Both games will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.