Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

UCLA's Arron Afflalo drives against Memphis' Rodney Carney. Afflalo led the Bruins to their first Final Four since 1995 with a win over the Tigers on Saturday.

UCLA won despite going 4-for-17 in the second half and shooting 35 percent.

“We never got going offensively but they didn’t either,” Bruins point guard Jordan Farmar said. “I know I didn’t do anything special offensively, but I’m the happiest guy on the planet.”

Memphis’ only field goal in the first 8:24 of the second half Saturday didn’t even go in the basket. Washington got credit for the points on a goaltending call.

UCLA got this far by surviving close games, and this time by surviving serious free-throw woes. The Bruins, 20-of-39 at the line, pulled off an improbable 73-71 comeback win over Gonzaga in the third round after beating Alabama 62-59 in their second NCAA game. UCLA rallied from nine points down in the final 3:27 to beat the Zags.

The hyper Howland, who has turned around the program in three years, slid along his bench all game. He even raised his arms in the air late as a call for the fans to get more involved in the program’s first final eight appearance since 1997.

Close to three-quarters of the fans in the sold-out crowd sported Bruins’ powder blue and gold, including former UCLA great Bill Walton.

Memphis shot 2-for-17 on 3-pointers and Carney was held to five points on 2-for-12 shooting in his final college game. Afflalo swarmed Carney at every chance, only two days after defending national scoring leader Adam Morrison.

Carney knelt in the circle at midcourt after the game. A teammate tried to console him, and Carney motioned him away while workers began to set up for UCLA’s ceremony.

“Most of the shots I missed were open layups,” Carney said. “I’m disappointed in myself. I couldn’t knock down shots. I missed almost every shot I took. He played great defense on me, but I played terrible.”

The Pac-10 regular-season and tournament champion Bruins acknowledged they hadn’t seen a team as athletic as Memphis, then outplayed the Tigers all game. It was the first true test of the tournament for Memphis after three straight 16-point victories.

Hollins, one of the seniors who was part of the program’s trying times, scored five straight points in one first-half stretch in which he also blocked a shot and took a charge to draw the first foul on Williams. Hollins drew another offensive foul on Williams late in the half.

After Hollins’ struggles all game at the line, Afflalo made two free throws with 14:12 to play and received a standing ovation.

Memphis, which won the Conference USA regular-season and tournament crowns and reached the regional final for the first time since 1992, started the game 1-for-13. The Tigers were 5-of-23 at one point and missed all 10 of their first-half 3-point tries.

Memphis coach John Calipari has produced 20-win seasons in each of his six years at the school but failed to become the 13th person to lead two or more schools to the Final Four. Calipari took Massachusetts to the Final Four in 1996.

“That’s quite a somber locker room in there,” Calipari said. “They had visions of winning this whole thing. It’s not one guy. We played bad, I coached bad, it’s everybody.”

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