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Stanford aim for revenge vs. UCLA in Pac-10 title game

Mar 15, 2008 - 1:49 PM No. 11 Stanford (26-6) at No. 2 Ucla (30-3) 6:00 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Kevin Love and second-ranked UCLA have had their share of close calls recently. One was a controversial win over Stanford last week.

The 11th-ranked Cardinal aim for revenge on Saturday when the meet they Bruins in the Pac-10 championship game.

Love had 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 20th double double of the season, and O.J. Mayo missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer as the Bruins advanced to the final with a 57-54 win over Southern California on Friday.

It was the ninth straight win for top-seeded UCLA (30-3), which became only the third team in history to win at least 30 games in three straight seasons. However, a couple of those wins were aided by questionable calls in the final seconds.

Second-seeded Stanford (26-6) battled UCLA on March 6 and held a two-point lead in the final seconds before forward Lawrence Hill was called for a foul on what looked to be a clean block.

UCLA guard Darren Collison hit a pair of free throws to force overtime and the Bruins went on to win, 77-67.

The Bruins also squeaked out a 81-80 win over California on March 8 when Josh Shipp hit a rainbow jumper over the backboard with 1.5 seconds remaining. The shot was questionable since by rule when the ball is over the backboard it is considered out of bounds.

The Bruins answered questionable call with a 88-66 blowout win over the Bears in the quarterfinals and will look to do the same to Stanford, which is looking to win its first Pac-10 tournament since 2004.

Stanford sophomore center Brook Lopez, who scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Friday's 75-68 win over Washington State in the semifinals, said the Cardinal aren't worried about getting revenge against UCLA.

"It's a completely different game at a different site," Lopez told the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday.

Instead, Lopez would rather talk about the matchup with Love saying, "I'm always excited to play a great post player. He's real physical and seals off real well."

UCLA could be shorthanded as Luc Richard Mbah a Moute suffered a sprained ankle in Friday's win and is expected to miss Saturday's game. Mbah a Moute is second on the team behind Love with 5.6 boards per game.