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Sophomore guard Arron Afflalo is fouled hard by California's DeVon Hardin in the first half.

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Cal's DeVon Hardin secures one of his eight rebounds over sophomore center Lorenzo Mata. The Gold

In sports, losses are sometimes difficult to explain.

But on Saturday, the No. 11 UCLA men's basketball team (11-2, 1-1 Pac-10) had little trouble pinpointing exactly what the problem was in a 68-61 loss to Cal (8-3, 2-0) at Pauley Pavilion that snapped the Bruins' eight-game winning streak.

"You have to credit Cal," coach Ben Howland said. "That's a really good team that came in here and beat us on our home floor today. They really came in and took it to us physically."

"Cal just came out and did a good job and played harder and deserved to win today," sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar said.

"We didn't really come out hard tonight," sophomore guard Arron Afflalo said. "That team is very good, but we're a much better team than we showed, banged up or not."

The things that had come to typify UCLA basketball on its winning streak were conspicuously absent Saturday.

Cal, which earned its first sweep in Southern California since 2000, was the aggressor from the opening tip. The Bears had a higher shooting percentage (52.2) than the Bruins (36.7), won the rebounding battle (32-25), and slowed the game down, forcing the Bruins to play at a tempo to which they were unaccustomed.

"We obviously did not play our best today," Howland said. "We made a lot of mistakes. The thing that sticks out are the missed blockouts."

From the outset, it was clear that this was not the same UCLA team that hammered Stanford on Thursday.

Farmar refused to say that his sprained right ankle, which he reinjured against the Cardinal, was the reason for his poor performance. He finished with just six points on 2-for-11 shooting.

"I have to suck it up and play, and I didn't play up to my potential," Farmar said. "I felt that I didn't do my job tonight, and I let my team down in that aspect. I have to look inside myself and see how I can get it done in the future."

Afflalo once again got it done on the offensive end, finishing with 19 points, but he blamed himself for his defense on Cal guard Ayinde Ubaka, who led the Bears with 18 points.

As a unit, the Cal guards outperformed UCLA, as Omar Wilkes and Richard Midgley each finished with 12 points to go with Ubaka's 18.

"Their guard play really was good today," Howland said. "Ubaka had a great game, and Wilkes and Midgley were outstanding."

Midgley and Ubaka were responsible for Cal's two most important plays of the game. After UCLA had secured its first lead of the game at 44-41 on a Ryan Wright 3-point play midway through the second half, Midgley quieted the Bruin crowd with a huge 3-pointer on the other end.

Cal never trailed the rest of the way.

Down 60-58 with less than two minutes to play, Afflalo stripped Ubaka, but freshman point guard Darren Collison was unable to secure the ball. Ubaka got the ball back and laid it up for a critical basket that essentially put the Bruins away.

"That was just an example of how our mentality was all night," Afflalo said of his team's inability to secure the steal. "If you don't start out aggressive in situations like that, then you won't finish aggressive, and we needed that possession."