Kevin Love leads UCLA past Western Kentucky 88-78

PHOENIX — The UCLA Bruins are one victory away from their third straight Final Four.
They’re not quite sure how.

Even though Kevin Love scored a career-high 29 points, the Bruins nearly frittered away a 21-point halftime lead before they hung on to defeat Western Kentucky 88-78 in an NCAA West Regional semifinal on Thursday night.

In the second round, they pulled out a two-point victory over Texas A&M in a virtual home game.

“This is very typical of us,” coach Ben Howland said. “We like to make things exciting, you know, make me lose hair.”

Given its recent history, top-seeded UCLA (34-3) is taking nothing for granted against No. 3-seeded Xavier on Saturday, when the Bruins will play for a trip to San Antonio and the Final Four.

“We’ve got our hands full,” Howland said. “We understand that.”

The Bruins were more relieved than happy to survive the game Hilltoppers, who took advantage of UCLA’s sloppy play to pull within four points late in the game.

“Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable,” Love said. “That’s all I can say.
“It was unacceptable the way we played in the second half. If we’re going to keep playing like that, we’re not going to be in this tournament very long.”