OAKLAND, Calif. - Memphis coach John Calipari was right about at least one thing — UCLA is greatly improved since the teams first met back in November.

Unfortunately for Calipari, he couldn’t say the same thing Saturday about his top-seeded Tigers. Clanking miss after miss, Memphis fell 50-45 to UCLA, falling one win shy of the school’s first trip to the Final Four since 1985.

Memphis made just 17 of 54 shots (31.5 percent), missed its first 14 3-pointers and needed a 3-pointer in the final second by Rodney Carney to avoid scoring its fewest points in 27 years.

The Tigers ran and shot their way past UCLA back in November, making six of 10 3-pointers in a 51-point first half and coasting to an 88-80 victory in the Preseason NIT. That served as a wake-up call to the Bruins, who tightened their defense and didn’t allow more than 80 points again this season.

Calipari talked about watching the tape of that game on the eve of the second meeting in the Oakland regional final.

“I’m laughing at the tape,” Calipari said before the second meeting. “Both teams are way better, more organized, better defensively. We scored 88 on them. I don’t think we’re getting 88 on them tomorrow.”

Boy, was he right.

Memphis missed 12 of its first 13 shots, was just 10-for-36 (28 percent) in the first half and missed all 10 3-pointers in the half. It wasn’t any better in the second half.

The Tigers made only one field goal in the first 8:24 and that didn’t even go into the basket — Darius Washington got credit for the hoop on a goaltending call.

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Everyone got involved in the misses. Carney was 2-for-12 for five points in the final game of his career, freshman Shawne Williams, who had 26 in the first meeting, was just 2-for-9 for eight points and Antonio Anderson went 1-for-5. Washington had 13 points, the only Memphis player to score more than eight.

All the coaxing and yelling by Calipari couldn’t help his players shake their slump. After Carney missed on a drive early in the second half, Calipari put his hands on his head in frustration. After Joe Dorsey missed underneath later in the half, Calipari almost fell off his chair kicking and flailing his arms in hopes of a basket or a foul call.

It was that kind of day.

And it came at the worst possible time. The Tigers had been riding a seven-game winning streak and had 22 victories in their last 23 games before collapsing against the Bruins.

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While the first meeting between these schools in the NCAA tournament was remembered for shooting brilliance — UCLA’s Bill Walton went 21-for-22 from the floor in an 87-66 win in the 1973 title game — this won will be remembered for shooting ineptitude.

The poor performance provided a bitter end to a special season for the Tigers, who won the Conference USA regular and postseason titles, earned the first No. 1 seed in school history and set a school record for wins.

In his sixth season at Memphis, Calipari had turned the program around. With four freshmen and three sophomores playing regularly, the future is bright for Memphis.

And Calipari only needs to look back at his time at Massachusetts for a reminder. After taking the Minutemen to a regional final in his seventh season, he led them to a Final Four the following year before he left for the riches of the NBA.