LOS ANGELES – Sophomore KZ Okpala recorded his second double-double of the season, with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as Stanford fell to UCLA in its Pac-12 opener Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The Cardinal (7-6, 0-1 Pac-12) was within six with 13 minutes to go, but the Bruins (8-6, 1-0 Pac-12) closed the game with 42 of the final 68 points to win 92-70.
Okpala, who posted 29 points and 10 rebounds in the season-opening win against Seattle, matched his career-best rebounding total with 10 on Thursday. He registered his seventh 20-point game of the season, scoring 13 of his game-high 22 in the opening half.
Tied at 12 early on, Stanford went 7:25 without a field goal and fell behind by 14. Oscar da Silva ended the drought with a putback, sparking a 10-0 Cardinal run to cut it to four with 4:47 remaining in the opening half. Okpala had a pair field goals and Josh Sharma punctuated the Stanford run with a thunderous slam.
Stanford trailed 38-32 at the break and it remained a two-possession game early in the second half. Okpala made a nice swipe on the defensive end and raced down the other end for the fast break dunk to make it 48-42 with 13 minutes to go.
UCLA scored 13 of the next 18 points over the next four minutes to build a 61-47 advantage. The Bruins led by as many as 27 (88-61), scoring 40 of the next 59 points following Okpala's steal and slam.
Sophomore Isaac White was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc to finish with nine points in 22 minutes, while Josh Sharma finished with six points and six rebounds for the Cardinal.
UCLA freshman Moses Brown led four Bruins in double figures with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Jaylen Hands added 15.
Stanford now turns its attention to USC on Sunday at the Galen Center. The Cardinal and Trojans are set for a 5 p.m. tipoff on ESPNU.
