Bruins managing to survive again

LOS ANGELES (AP) — UCLA seems to know only two ways to win these days — blowouts or squeakers. Five of the top-seeded Bruins’ last eight wins have been by three points or less, another came after they forced overtime and two were double-digit routs.

They might want to find another way, with tougher teams looming on their path to a third consecutive Final Four.

Winners of 12 straight, the Bruins (33-3) play 12th-seeded Western Kentucky (29-6) Thursday night in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals in Phoenix.

“We are skating on thin ice, but we’re winning these games,” point guard Darren Collison said Tuesday. “We don’t want to continue to have these bad starts, we want to strive for having good starts.”

After trailing most of the way, UCLA survived a tight second-round game for the third consecutive year, edging Texas A&M 51-49 Saturday when Josh Shipp blocked Donald Sloan’s shot in the lane in the closing seconds.

Shipp is under the microscope for more than his game-saving block. He was scoreless in 37 minutes against the Aggies, continuing a slump that included an 0-for-20 stretch from 3-point range earlier this month. The junior forward averages 12.8 points.

“He knows what he needs to do and I don’t think he should feel any extra pressure,” Love said. “He’s been here twice, so he knows what he’s doing.”

The Bruins got a combined 40 points from Collison and Love, while Shipp, Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scored seven points among them. The trio was scoreless in the first half.

“We do a lot of ball screens and we’re watching for most of the game. Sometimes it is hard to just shoot the ball when it gets kicked out to us,” Shipp said. “We’re more transition players anyway, so we need to get the transition game going and then maybe we’ll be able to get those easy baskets and get more in the flow of the game.”

Mbah a Moute returned against A&M after missing two games because of a sprained left ankle. Coach Ben Howland said the junior forward’s ankle swelled so much Sunday that it resembled “elephantitis.”

However, a precautionary MRI done Monday was negative and Howland expects Mbah a Moute to start Thursday. The coach has said the Bruins can’t win without him.

“Luc is that one piece that every team needs,” Collison said. “When he gets healthy, it’s going to open us up even more. Teams aren’t going to focus so much on Josh coming off screens or Kevin or Russell or myself driving, they’re gong to have to respect Luc. When Luc gets healthy and starts knocking down those shots, which we know he can, it’s going to be a different story for us.”

What kind of ending the Bruins create for themselves remains to be seen. But Love knows what the expectations are at a school with 11 national championships and 96 NCAA tournament victories, second only to Kentucky’s 100.

“In order for it to be historic and in the same breath as Coach [John] Wooden, we’d have to make something very special happen and that would be a Final Four run and hopefully a national championship,” he said. “In Pauley Pavilion, you don’t see Final Four banners. The only thing they hang in there are national championship banners.”