Afflalo awakens, as he knew he would

SAN JOSE — His shooting touch was going to return.

Arron Afflalo was sure of that, even though he had flailed through a five-game, 18-for-58 slump and made only two of his first seven shots Saturday while UCLA trailed Kansas in the NCAA West Regional.

"I've been playing basketball since I was 2 years old. I've had many slumps and many hot months and times," said the junior guard, UCLA's top scorer and emotional touchstone.

"You play to win and you play the right way, and sometimes the shots fall."

Ten of the 15 shots he attempted fell on Saturday, including all of the last eight. And because they did, the Bruins advanced to the Final Four for the second successive season, propelled there by one of the finest performances this group has mustered at both ends of the floor.

Afflalo was an island of calm after the Bruins' 68-55 victory over the top-seeded Jayhawks at HP Pavilion, leaving his teammates to whoop it up and admire their West champion T-shirts and hats.

Amid the noise and bodies that filled UCLA's closet of a locker room, center Lorenzo Mata sat back in a folding chair, a smile wreathing his face and a cut-down net encircling his neck.

"I'll take this over gold, platinum, any jewelry," he said. "I'll take it over anything."

A few feet away, Michael Roll, wearing the other net over a sweat-soaked T-shirt, regarded the shorn twine with near reverence.

"I love this necklace. It's the best necklace I've ever had," Roll said, grinning.

Afflalo didn't vent his feelings during a news conference or when he was cornered by reporters again in the hallway outside the Bruins' locker room.

He rarely lets his emotions show. That may be because he prefers to channel all his energy onto the court, or because he knows that even after wearing down a big and disciplined Jayhawks team that had won its previous 14 games, the Bruins' path will only get tougher.

Afflalo has been there before, been to the championship game and lost to Florida last April, scoring only 10 points in a 73-57 loss.

That experience, above all others, has taught him perspective. Things are not as good as they seem when they're going well, and they're never as awful as they seem when they're going badly, like his shooting. He never lost his confidence in himself, and that was all that mattered about his 24-point performance.

"A lot gets written about my shot attempts and things. That's part of basketball and that's part of human nature," he said. "I'm going to miss and I'm going to make, but as long as I'm there to be effective for my team and put winning first, I really don't worry about it too much as people may think.

"You have a lot of emotion running through the game. It's a different type of emotion, more fulfilling, a good, soulful feeling right now that you've experienced something that's so rare two years straight. But again we also understand, going through last year's experience, that this is not the end of the road. It's just a steppingstone."

A significant step, though, because Afflalo produced when the Bruins had to get more from him than the three-for-11 effort he produced on Thursday against Pittsburgh.

"This game, that's what we need from him," Alfred Aboya said.

"If he plays like that, we can't lose."

They won on Saturday because of their solid defense, 31-28 rebounding edge and their ability to quickly read and respond to whatever opponents throw at them.

The Jayhawks made some runs but the Bruins maintained their poise, largely because Afflalo showed them the way.

With Kansas starting to fade in the second half, Afflalo drove for the layup that gave the Bruins a 46-35 lead.

After Brandon Rush responded with a three-pointer from the corner, Afflalo contributed UCLA's next seven points on a three-point shot, a jumper and a layup that put the Bruins ahead, 53-45.

"Arron's a big-time player and big-time players make important shots in big games, on the stage," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. "I'm really proud of Arron. He's just so tough. You can see he's all about his team. He's all about winning.

"He was the first recruit that I recruited as the new head coach at UCLA. It's really been special to have him."

Afflalo is expected to enter the NBA draft after this season, so Howland probably will have him for two more games, at the most. But that's long enough for Afflalo to enhance his legacy and to earn the title he and his teammates lost to the Florida Gators last April.

If the Gators defeat the Oregon Ducks today in the Midwest Regional, they would face the Bruins in one of the national semifinals next Saturday.

"It would be nice," Afflalo said. "A lot of anticipation there. If it is Oregon, that's fine. This is the Final Four. You can't worry about that too much."

Just like he didn't fret about his shooting touch coming back.

"What I'm so happy about is the win," he said. "Each year you become more of a leader, more the focal point of your team.

"Obviously you're going to make important plays throughout the season and in important games, like today, which is very fortunate for myself. But I'm just so happy because I'm more part of the team, because I'm older and I appreciate it a little bit more."

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