LAS VEGAS– Arizona men’s basketball trails UCLA 30-26 at halftime Friday in the T-mobile arena.  

The arena seats 18,000 people and was about three quarters of the way full, with mostly Arizona fans. 

But that didn’t seem to bother the Bruins, who started the game firing on all cylinders, hitting four from deep and taking a seven point lead in the first six minutes. 

Arizona’s head coach Sean Miller countered UCLA’s 3-point shooting by changing his lineup to defend the smaller UCLA guards. He put Keanu Pinder, Dylan Smith and Emmanuel Akot in the game and Arizona surged back to within one, before going into the half down four. 

Rawle Alkins led the way for Arizona with nine points and two rebounds. Alkins shot 1-for-3 from deep and 4-of-6 overall. 

Deandre Ayton followed with seven points and six rebounds. Aytons points came early, but the Bruins double and triple-teamed him under the basket making it difficult for Ayton to even get his hands on the ball during final minutes of the half. 

For UCLA, Aaron Holiday led with seven points, but he shot 2-of-7 overall and 1-for-5 from deep.

Rebounding was the main difference for the Bruins who out rebounded Arizona 22-13. Only four of Arizona’s players had a rebound, while all of UCLA’s players had at least one. 

Overall, Arizona shot 41 percent form the floor and 24 percent from deep while UCLA shot 38 from the floor and 25 percent from deep. 

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