UCLA can be a scoring machine from the perimeter. Ranked 12th in the nation in three-point shooting (second in overall shooting), the team has a lot of talented guards and a major downtown threat in swingman Michael Roll.
Until this weekend, things were a little dicey inside. Struggling with zone defenses in particular, the Bruins needed to establish their inside game and prove that they can penetrate. UCLA entered the weekend averaging 27.8 points in the paint per game, but piled up 38 against Cal and 42 against Stanford.
Along with improved spacing, Alfred Aboya said that a lot of credit
went to the Bruins' senior point guard. "Coach told Darren Collison
that he can't be tentative. He
has to pressure the ball, like 25 or 27 feet [away from the basket]. We thrive off of dribble penetration. He took that upon himself. I think he
played really hard these past two games."
After beating Cal on Thursday, 81-66, Ben Howland seemed out of character. "I don't have a lot to complain about tonight," UCLA's coach said. "I'm pretty happy."
After beating Stanford on Saturday, 97-53, he was nearly giddy when talking about the play of Alfred Aboya. Nearly — which is as enthusiastic as Howland gets.
Asked about his quote from a couple of days earlier, Howland grinned. "Boy, I didn't know that quote would be emphasized so much! That was
just kind of off the cuff. Yeah, I'm very happy today. I'm really proud
of the effort we gave in both games. It feels good, obviously, to win
— and feel like the team's improving, that we're getting better, that
we're improving as a group. That's exciting."
Howland, who spent four years coaching Pittsburgh, also slipped in a comment about Sunday's Super Bowl. "Go Steelers!"
Later, Alfred Aboya said he's rooting for the Arizona Cardinals, since they beat his favorite team (the Philadelphia Eagles).
UCLA honored its first two national championship teams teams Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
A halftime ceremony featured a speech from John Wooden, who guided the Bruins to those titles in 1964 and 1965. He went on to claim eight more — all 10 in just a 12-year span. Wooden was helped onto the court by Kenny Washington, who was on both of those squads. Fellow back-to-back champions Keith Erickson and Jerry Norman were on hand. They were joined by Chuck Darrow, Kent Graham, Mike Huggins, Kim Stewart, Fred Slaughter, Jack Hirsch and Walt Hazzard from the 1964 team and Ted Henry, John Galbraith, Mike Lynn, Bill Ureda and Freddie Goss from the 1965 team.
The 1964 squad went 30-0 for the school's first perfect season. The 1965 team finished 28-2, averaging 100 points per game in the NCAA tournament. The current Bruins did their best imitation Saturday, ripping apart Stanford, 97-63.
Another person from UCLA's past, Steve Lavin, also was there. He was one of the broadcasters for ABC. When asked by a colleague if, during his coaching career, he ever thought that his team was getting better and
wished he had two or three more weeks at the end of the season, he said
"yes" — his final year at UCLA.
The Bruins brushed off a couple of rough games earlier this month by blowing out the Bay Area teams at Pauley Pavilion. On Saturday, Stanford was the victim by a score of 97-63. Including Thursday's match-up against Cal, the Bruins' average victory was by 24.5 points.
On the stat sheet, two things popped out. UCLA won the turnover battle, 19-13. Although not a huge disparity, the Cardinal came into the game ranked 16th in the nation with an average turnover ratio of +4.1. UCLA also clamped down on shooting in the second half. Stanford was hitting 52.2% in the first half, but only 26.7% in the second. UCLA jumped from 51.7% before heading to the locker room to 74.2% after.
Stanford, which entered the game averaging 74.9 points per game, had just 55 with less than five minutes left in the contest. UCLA led 41-30 at the half, then went on a 21-4 tear out of the locker room to bury The Farm.
"We may be reverting back to past years where we're a very good second half team," said Coach Ben Howland. "Obviously that's when you want to be really good, if you had to choose between one and the other. But we want to be good for 40 minutes."
UCLA has been better than good. They haven't given up a lead for 80 consecutive minutes.
After reclaiming a share of first place in the conference with a solid win Thursday over Cal, Collison said his mindset was the same.
"We have to have that mentality," he said. "There's no room for error. I'm not trying to put pressure on us, but at the same time I want our team's attention to be there at all times. I thought it was there today. They know what's at stake. We're trying to do something really special, so we just have to go out there and play hard."
Coach Ben Howland was keeping up the traditional one-at-a-time mindset, already turning his attention to Saturday's game against Stanford:
UCLA fans always seem to start the weekend off right.
In the Pac-10, a team will typically play both schools from another state on the same weekend (making it easy to do just one trip to Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Southern California — the latter two being two totally distinct states of mind).
The Bruins have won their weekend opener a stunning 32 consecutive times.
The last time they lost on a Thursday or Friday in conference was Jan. 20, 2005. Jordan Farmar was a freshman. George W. Bush was popular enough to be reelected. Tom Cruise hadn't jumped on Oprah's couch yet. Facebook still wasn't cool.
That's a long time ago.
Here in 2009, the Bruins just came through a rough stretch, dropping two out of three games with losses to Arizona State and Washington. The win was over Washington State — on a Thursday.
Last night, the Bruins had some serious Thursday mojo working. After roughing up Cal, 81-66, senior point guard Darren Collison thought about it for a moment. He figures the Bruins are feeding off of the crowd. "When it's an opener on a Pac-10 weekend, everybody's just up for it. They're excited."
Sure, college students like to start off the the weekend with a big party, but is that energy really translating onto the court? What about Coach Ben Howland's extra time to prepare? Or the players' time to rest?
"It could be a mixture of all of that," Collison said. "But I can honestly say that just feeding off the crowd" is a big reason.
It can be embarrassing to admit, but UCLA was suffering from a dysfunction.
It just couldn't penetrate.
Particularly stymied by the zone, the Bruins have had issues getting into the paint. It was a point of emphasis all week, and they finally broke through in the second half against Cal.
After the 81-66 victory, Coach Ben Howland said that UCLA tried more motion after halftime.
One of the most obvious results was an increase in foul shots. The Bruins attempted four before halftime. They attempted 19 after.
"Getting to the line is very important, and something we talk about all the time," Howland said. "We wanna' get it inside."
"I think I definitely tried," said Jrue Holiday. "Everybody else tried. You saw Darren [Collison] and Josh [Shipp] get in there too.
"All the great teams go to the free-throw line, I don't know, probably 15 or 20 times a game. You saw against Washington — they went to the free-throw line like 50 times or something like that. Just getting to the free throw line was really on my mind today."
Senior Darren Collison said that the breakthrough against Cal had everything to do with spacing. "I thought the spacing was a better on the motion end. We've just got to continue to attack the basket. Every time we do those things, we should be fine."
"I don't have a lot to complain about tonight," said Coach Ben Howland. "I'm pretty happy."
His delivery was deadpan, but his his team finally showed signs of life. The victory was just what UCLA needed after dropping two of three, and came against a legitimate Bears squad that was tied with the Bruins for second in the Pac-10 when the night started. It returned UCLA to their usual inertia-driven spot on top of the conference standings.
Listening to some of the whispers (or shouts, in the case of talk radio), there were growing doubts about this year's team. Perhaps they forgot that UCLA has won three straight conference championships and didn't clinch any of those until the final weekend of the season. Trying to predict the conference after last weekend was akin to calling a baseball pennant race on the 4th of July.
After last week's loss at Washington, it was hard to remember the last time UCLA was in second. In case you were wondering, it was just a week earlier. Remember ASU? It's early. These things happen.
In keeping with this "keep perspective" theme, Thursday night's victory was just one win and the Bruins still have to show a more impressive body of work in the coming month. Don't be surprised if they do it. Despite an experienced starting lineup, this is a young team ... one that should continue to develop as we get closer to tournament time. Scary thought for everybody else.
Spotted in the stands: UCLA legends John Wooden and Jamaal Wilkes.
UCLA is looking to improve upon its last three performances, as the Bruins lost
twice and struggled late in each contest.
The good omen about tonight's game against Cal at Pauley Pavilion? The Bruins have won
31 consecutive Thursday night games in the regular season of Pac-10
play. Maybe that's because they're usually well-rested headed into
Thursdays.
Fatigue was an issue in both weekend losses, but there were different feelings about how big a deal it really was. Ben Howland, Alfred Aboya, Michael Roll and Darren Collison all touch on the subject:
After finishing on top of the Pac-10 for three straight seasons, the Bruins aren't used to playing catch-up.
It's not that UCLA's three-way tie for second place is a bad thing. The majority of conference play is still ahead, as the Bruins will hit the halfway point Saturday against Stanford.
First, they will take on Cal tonight at Pauley Pavilion. Senior point guard Darren Collison spoke about how they are approaching this one a little differently than earlier in the year:
Adam Rose grew up in a house divided between UCLA and USC ... now he's writing about both. He served as Sports Editor for LAist (covering a wide range of local action) and is also a regular on KNBC 4's News Raw. Adam manages special events in the sports community when he isn't participating himself (he staggered through the LA Marathon and can often be found on local soccer fields). If you have a question about the Bruins, Trojans, or just want to give him a piece of your mind, email: adam@laist.com.
UCLA can be a scoring machine from the perimeter. Ranked 12th in the nation in three-point shooting (second in overall shooting), the team has a lot of talented guards and a major downtown threat in swingman Michael Roll.
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