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 SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Ben Howland set the tone early, crouching into a defensive stance with his arms in the air, yelling out assignments. And he's only UCLA's coach. His players paid just as much attention at the defensive end in a style all-too-familiar for Pittsburgh. The style Howland employed in four years at Pitt ended up knocking the Panthers out of the NCAA tournament when the Bruins won the West Regional semifinal 64-55 Thursday night.
"It starts with our coach," point guard Darren Collison said. "He emphasizes defense all year long and we showed it pays to be physical."
The second-seeded Bruins (29-5) never trailed in the grind-it-out game that matched Howland against his best friend and former assistant, Jamie Dixon. With teams using the same tight defensive style, sometimes the only way to score was when the shots weren't contested.
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