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No. 7 UCLA seeks regular-season sweep of No. 24 Arizona

Feb 17, 2007 - 3:17 PM No. 7 UCLA (22-3) at No. 24 Arizona (17-8) 1:00 pm EST

TUCSON, Arizona (Ticker) -- The ability to win after trailing late in the game will serve UCLA well in the stretch drive of the Pac-10 Conference race.

The seventh-ranked Bruins look to win for the fifth time in six games in February and remain alone in first place in the conference race with Saturday's showdown against Arizona.

Concluding a three-game road trip, UCLA (22-3, 11-2 Pac-10) has split its last six contests away from Pauley Pavilion and has one-half game lead over Washington State in conference play.

Coming back from last Saturday's loss at West Virginia, the Bruins rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit in Thursday's 67-61 triumph over Arizona State.

Arron Afflalo made 7-of-13 shots to score 24 points and Darren Collison added 18 for UCLA, which denied the Sun Devils their first Pac-10 victory of the campaign.

After a stretch of five losses in six games, Arizona (17-8, 8-6) has won three of its last four and is tied with Oregon for fifth place in the Pac-10, one-half game behind Stanford.

The Wildcats had their three-game winning streak halted with Thursday's 80-75 defeat against Southern California. Chase Budinger led Arizona with 19 points and Mustafa Shakur had 16.

UCLA has taken the last four meetings against Arizona, including a 73-69 victory January 20. Afflalo scored 22 points for the Bruins, while Ivan Radenovic had 20 for the Wildcats.