The only thing left for Tom Timmermans was to look at the bench and call his own number for an isolation clear-out.
Timmermans scored a career-high 20 points in seemingly every way possible for a 6-foot-11, 270-pound center - 3-pointers, baseline jumpers and inside post moves - as the Irish defeated UCLA 75-60 Saturday at the Pauley Pavilion.
The 20 points from Timmermans combined with 21 points from Chris Thomas and 20 from Chris Quinn coming off the bench outscored the 10 Bruins who saw the court.
Timmermans finished 9-of-15 from the field and connected on 2-of-4 3-pointers. Coming into Saturday, Timmermans had made two 3-pointers in his career. Saturday was the second time this season Timmermans had set a career high for points.
Thomas and Quinn alternated running the point for the Irish. Thomas finished with six assists and zero turnovers, while Quinn had four assists and turned it over once.
The Irish broke out of a two-game losing streak and look to build some momentum in their last two Big East games before the conference tournament.
UCLA (11-14) lost for the 11th time in 13 games. The Bruins haven't had back-to-back losing seasons (they finished 10-19 last year) since 1940-41.
The Irish rebounded from a poor shooting performance against Providence Tuesday to make 12-of-26 3-pointers and shoot 48 percent from the field overall against the Bruins. From the start, the Irish were on fire and used their hot long distance shooting to build a 29-9 lead.
The Bruins, who looked totally out of sync in the beginning of the game, eventually pulled it together and got as close as 31-23. But a jumper from Quinn put the Irish back up 10 and sparked a 13-2 run to close out the half, where the Irish shot 9-of-18 from behind the arc.
After pulling within eight in the first half, the Bruins never cut the lead down to single digits again.
The Irish close out their home regular season schedule Thursday when they host Georgetown at 7 p.m.
Note:
Brey said at his Thursday press conference that forward Torin Francis, who has been sidelined since Notre Dame's win over Connecticut Feb. 9, will probably not return to the court for the Irish this season.
Francis averaged 14.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in 20 games this season.
