Pac-12 basketball: UCLA beats Stanford to win 7th straight game

Los Angeles • Barely a month ago, UCLA had lost two of three games and fallen out of the Top 25. Now, the Bruins are rolling.

Shabazz Muhammad scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half when UCLA pulled away to defeat Stanford 68-60 on Saturday, extending its winning streak to seven games.

Jordan Adams added 12 points and Kyle Anderson had 12 rebounds for the Bruins (12-3, 2-0 Pac-12), who are on their longest run of consecutive wins since taking 10 in a row during the 2008-09 season. They won their eighth straight at home against Stanford, and 11th in their last 12.

The victory allowed UCLA to complete a sweep on opening weekend of Pac-12 play. The Bruins beat California 79-65 on Thursday.

"A win is a beautiful thing," UCLA coach Ben Howland said after being asked about the ugliness of a game that included a combined 28 turnovers.

Six of the Bruins' seven wins during the current streak have come at home. Before the streak began at Texas on Dec. 8, they were upset at home by Cal Poly and lost on a neutral court to ranked San Diego State.

"We're like a whole different team," Muhammad said.

Anderson agreed, saying, "We bought into playing defense and a collective effort to help each other out."

Dwight Powell had 17 points and tied his career high with 13 rebounds, and Chasson Randle added 17 points for Stanford (9-6, 0-2). The Cardinal lost at Southern California 71-69 two days earlier, and they fell to 9-29 on the road in conference play dating to the 2008-09 season. They have dropped 15 of their last 16 on the Los Angeles road trip.

Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins kept his locker room closed for 56 minutes after the game.

"It was a record for me," he said about the lengthy team meeting. "We talked about what we have to do to get better and it was a conversation involving everyone. We held UCLA way under their scoring average, but we have to do a lot better at making shots. We missed too many point-blank shots."

Washington 68, Washington State 63 • In Pullman, Wash., former Pleasant Grove star C.J. Wilcox scored 18 points and Washington beat poor-shooting Washington State. Scott Suggs scored three late baskets to help Washington (9-5, 1-0 Pac-12) successfully begin its defense of last year's Pac-12 regular-season title.

Mike Ladd scored 15 points to lead Washington State (9-5, 0-1), which has lost four straight to its cross-state rival.

The Huskies jumped to a big early lead, and poor shooting plagued Washington State much of the game.

Washington State was scoreless in the first five minutes of the game to fall behind 9-0. Consecutive 3-pointers by Suggs and Wilcox pushed Washington's lead to 17-4 and the Cougars had trouble even attempting shots on several of their possessions.

Cal 72, USC 64 • In Los Angeles, Allen Crabbe scored 27 points and Tyrone Wallace and Justin Cobbs added 10.

Crabbe scored 19 points in the second half, including seven straight, for the Bears (9-5, 1-1 Pac-12). He went 9 for 12 from the field and made all eight free-throw attempts.

Wallace made two 3-pointers during a surge that gave Cal a 66-58 lead. The Bears, who went 0 for 19 from 3-point range in their previous two games, made 5 of 9 from beyond the arc.