SPOKANE, Wash. “”mdash; Much has been made of Washington
State’s offensive woes so far this season.
Thursday night the lackluster play appeared to be
contagious.
UCLA’s motion offense, so productive in its victory over
Oregon on Saturday, simply seemed to go through the motions at
times as the squad muddled through an ugly 48-point effort against
Washington State.
Though the Bruins did manage to eke out their third straight
victory, the Cougars’ physical brand of defense gave them
fits throughout the night.
“We knew it was going to be a grind-it-out affair,”
UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “Both teams emphasize team
defense, and both teams were patient on offense. It was definitely
a struggle out there.”
Washington State registered just six points by the eight-minute
mark of the first half, but at that point the Bruins could only
manage 14 of their own. Cougar coach Dick Bennett, the former
architect of a Wisconsin program that evolved into a national power
because of its consistently tough defense, implemented a strategy
that neutralized UCLA’s apparent advantage in the paint.
The smaller Cougar frontline double-teamed on the baseline
whenever 6-foot-11 T.J. Cummings or 7-footers Ryan Hollins and
Michael Fey received a pass near the basket, forcing UCLA to look
elsewhere for its scoring.
Ignoring their height and wingspan advantages inside, the Bruins
settled for contested jumpers and ill-fated three-point attempts,
consequently shooting just 36 percent for the half
“The strategy gave us a chance to compete,” Bennett
said. “You’re talking about 6-foot-6 guys going against
guys with a head and an arm length advantage on them. There
wasn’t much else we could do.”
In the second half, UCLA made a much more conscientious effort
to work the ball inside, and it proved to be the difference in the
game. The Bruins handled the Cougar double-teams much more easily,
scoring their first four buckets of the half in the paint.
Cummings tallied eight of his team-high 12 points in the second
half, and freshman forward Trevor Ariza registered all eight of his
points after the break.
UCLA shot 50 percent in the second half largely because they
were more patient on offense and refused to settle for long
distance opportunities.
“It’s a different style of play,” Cummings
said. “I knew we had a big advantage down in the paint if I
could get position. I tried to do a good job of fighting for low
position and getting as deep as I could.”
“The game went like they wanted it to,” he
added.
Well, in every way except one. It was the Bruins who emerged
with the victory.