Bruins find their game against Cal

The mood around the UCLA basketball program was less than jubilant this week. As guard Darren Collison put it, "This team is sick to its stomach from losing."

Two defeats in three games can have that effect.

The Bruins, slipping down the national rankings to No. 17, might have resorted to gallons of Pepto-Bismol, but Thursday night they found something better.

Defensive pressure that generated 16 steals and forced 21 turnovers. Running the fastbreak off those miscues and attacking the rim in the half-court offense.

All of which added up to a big dose of relief by way of an 81-66 victory over California in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Pauley Pavilion.

"I don't have a lot to complain about tonight," Coach Ben Howland said. "I'm pretty happy."

To which Collison said: "That's hard to believe."

Best of all for the Bruins, conference front-runner Washington lost at Arizona, so they move back into a share of first place in the standings.

UCLA improved to 16-4, 6-2 in conference, by making good on a few promises.

All week long, Howland and his players had talked about spacing the floor on offense, forcing the ball inside more often rather than settling for long-range shots.

Facing a Cal team that has hardly excelled on defense this season, UCLA took control in the first half with a flurry of fastbreak layups by Collison and Josh Shipp. Center Alfred Aboya and freshman Drew Gordon added points inside.

The Bruins held a 31-23 halftime lead and limited Cal, the second-highest scoring team in the conference, to 10 points below its average.

The Golden Bears (16-5, 5-3) helped out by looking occasionally inept, mishandling the ball early and often.

"I thought a lot of those turnovers were our own lack of attention," Cal Coach Mike Montgomery said. "We exposed the ball. We got passive."

Thursday's performance came at a time -- roughly two-thirds of the way through the schedule -- when it seemed fair to ask if UCLA was as good as advertised. Fair to ask if the Bruins' lofty ranking in the preseason polls owed more to reputation -- and the potential of a highly touted freshman class -- than to reality.

When asked about it this week, several players dismissed the notion that other Pac-10 teams might be better.

"No, we're a very good team," swingman Michael Roll said. "We have a lot of talent."

Collison added: "This thing is far from over."