A heavy dose of the Wear twins catapulted UCLA to a 65-58 victory over UCLA in the 18^th annual John R. Wooden Classic at Honda Center.

Travis Wear scored a career-high 20 points for UCLA in a 65-58 win over Arizona.

Travis Wear poured in a career-high 20 points on the night, while his brother David added another 14 for the Bruins in their first Pac-12 win of the season. Overall, the 6-10 sophomore forwards were a combined 13-of-16 shooting from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

“This is obviously a very big win for us tonight, after starting out 0-2 (in conference play) and playing against a very good Arizona team,” UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. “The Wears did a good job inside tonight, scoring a lot of baskets around the goal. They got to the line a little more. Travis got to the line six times tonight, which was big for us.”

The performance by the Wears was even more crucial in the game, as the Bruins were without the services of Joshua Smith. The sophomore center, who is fourth on the team in scoring, was out due to a concussion suffered in practice the day before.

“I give UCLA a lot of credit,” Arizona head coach Sean Miller said. “They were without one of their very important players – Josh Smith – and it seemed to galvanize the rest of the group. The Wear twins are very good players and took advantage of us. We lost to a better team tonight.”

After Arizona jumped in front during the early moments of the game, the Bruins went on a 17-4 run that would give them a lead they would never relinquish. Each time the Wildcats would try to close the gap, UCLA would stand tall.

Solomon Hill totaled 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half for Arizona.

The Wildcats (10-5, 1-1) would get to within two points of the lead near the end of the first half, getting a pair of Brendon Lavendar three-pointers to make the score 31-29. The Bruins quickly struck back, getting six straight points from senior guards Lazeric Jones and Jerime Anderson, to take a 37-30 lead into halftime.

UCLA (8-7, 1-2) continued to find success in the opening minutes of the second half, going up by 11 at one point. The Wear twins would then get into foul trouble and the tandem of Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill for Arizona started to take over. The two forwards scored 19 of their 29 points in the game during the second half and had the Wildcats trailing by just three with 3:28 left on the clock.

Jones would again put those comeback thoughts to rest though, as he hit a tough runner in the lane and two free throws down the stretch to help seal the victory. “It’s a big win, our first Pac-12 win,” Jones said. “That’s what we talked about. We wanted to get our first Pac-12 win, so we could get a roll going. Hopefully, we can learn from this and continue to get wins.”

The victory was even sweeter for UCLA, as it came in the event that bears the name of their historic former head coach. Established in 1994, the Wooden Classic is an annual tribute to the legendary former coach (who passed away in 2010 at the age of 99) and the excellence he personified. The Bruins have won their last two Wooden Classic games and are now 11-4 in their 15 appearances at the event.

“It definitely felt special, just seeing the atmosphere,” David Wear said. “Knowing it’s the John Wooden Classic and his name is on the court, we definitely wanted to have a good appearance and get the win tonight.”

For Arizona, it was their first loss at the Wooden Classic. They were previously victorious at the event in 1996 , 2001 and 2004. The Wildcats also made it to the Elite Eight during the NCAA West Regional at Honda Center last season, before falling to eventual champion UCONN.

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