A sense of urgency. UCLA coach Kathy Olivier vehemently
reiterated that theme all throughout Monday’s practice. After
being swept by the Arizona schools this past weekend, Olivier sent
a message to her team by holding a practice on Monday, which
isn’t common for the Bruins after a road trip. The team
answered in practice by increasing its intensity and voicing
positive feedback to each other in order to bolster team morale.
“We knew that if we didn’t come in today with a good
practice we’d run all practice,” junior Nikki Blue
said. “We knew it’d be a bad situation if we just came
out here flat like we did in ASU. We just want to turn the whole
season around because we’re too good of a team to start
playing bad like we have been doing.” While Blue may be one
of the best-conditioned athletes on the team, the guard has logged
more minutes than anyone in the Pac-10, and she’s felt the
effects. “My body is tired,” Blue said.
“I’m not getting much rest. But we just have to come
out here and get after it every day.” After watching film,
doing one three-minute fullcourt layup drill after another,
scrimmaging with the scout team and shooting free throws, Olivier
said she didn’t feel the practice was especially difficult.
Nevertheless, as the season comes down to just three games before
the Pac-10 Tournament, practices have become mentally taxing.
“I think when Nikki said yes (it was one of the harder
practices), she wants this bad,” Olivier said. “She
wants to go into postseason play very badly.”
QUINN UPDATE: After undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her left
knee back on Jan. 19, guard Noelle Quinn still remains on crutches.
While the sophomore was expected to return in time for the Pac-10
Tournament in March, Olivier has taken a precautionary approach to
when Quinn will return. “As much as we all want her to play
right now, we really want her to be 100 percent next year,”
Olivier said. “So if we get her down the stretch, that would
be great. If we don’t, we know we’ll have her for next
year and that’s huge. “If we feel like we’re not
going to get anything out of having her, if she’s not 100
percent, that’s risky,” she added. “I don’t
want to do that. The kid has too big of a career ahead of
her.”
FRONTCOURT LACKING TOUCHES: UCLA’s frontcourt was
virtually a non-factor against the Sun Devils on Saturday. In the
loss, Olivier played every one of her five post players ““
Amanda Livingston, Lindsey Pluimer, Consuelo Lezcano, Emma Tautolo
and Sissy Pickett ““ yet they only combined for a total of 13
shot attempts. “ASU’s defense really puts a lot of
pressure on the perimeter,” Olivier said. “It’s
hard to look inside because they’re slapping, hitting,
swinging. It’s a frantic pace, and it’s hard to get
post players the ball.” The play of post players has had
telling implications in the last 10 games for the Bruins. In the
four wins during that period, the post players contributed 39
percent of UCLA’s points and attempted an average of 28 shots
per game. In the six losses, the frontcourt attempted 10 fewer
shots for only 24 percent of the offense. “Not many people
think our frontcourt is a huge part of our team and our success,
but it is,” Blue said. “Those are the people that bang
inside and often get rewarded, but everybody mostly focuses on our
backcourt. But I think it’s very important to get them
involved.” “You always want to get a higher percentage
shot and that’s normally our post, but our offense is geared
towards our perimeter right now,” Olivier said. “So
that’s why the numbers are like that.”
SOPHOMORE MAKING STRIDES: Over the weekend, Lezcano was
Olivier’s first option off the bench for the post position.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore center has made vast improvements on her
knowledge of the game, making sound decisions on the defensive end
and providing a spark on the offensive side as well. “Her
teammates have more confidence in her, she has more confidence in
herself,” Olivier said. “It was a process she had to go
through in practice in order for her to get better and for us to
trust her in a game. “If she can come on strong at the end
that’d be great. She has come a long way.”