Satisfied that UCLA has figured out how to tackle Cal’s
trademark zone defense, freshman guard Jordan Farmar said he would
welcome the chance to prove it on Thursday night. “Why
not?” Farmar asked. “We get open shots, we run the shot
clock, and we get to rest a little bit on offense. I wouldn’t
mind.” Solving the zone wasn’t nearly so easy for the
Bruins a few weeks ago, when the Bears surprised them with it at
Pauley Pavilion. UCLA scored a season-low 51 points that night,
passively passing the ball around the perimeter instead of feeding
the high post and attacking the middle of the zone. Since then,
however, the Bruins have made great strides in their zone offense.
“We’ve been going against it a lot more in
practice,” Farmar said. “We’re a lot more
patient, but a lot more aggressive also. We’ve been getting
really good looks. We’ve been killing teams who are playing
zone lately.” Both Arizona State and Arizona employed a zone
defense early in the first half against the Bruins this past
weekend, but it was ineffective. UCLA showed patience and knocked
down numerous wide-open perimeter shots, forcing both teams to
switch back to man-to-man defense. “We attacked both zones
well this weekend,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
“I’m confident we’ll do better against Cal this
week,” he said.
LOST IN TRANSLATION: It has been a point of emphasis all season,
but UCLA is still struggling to get starting center Michael Fey
involved in the offense. Fey, a junior, is third in the Pac-10 in
field goal percentage, yet he has taken the sixth-most shots on the
team. He took only two shots on Saturday against Arizona as the
Bruins became entirely one-dimensional, hoisting up 29
three-pointers and relying solely on their guards. “I think
it’s very hard to win when we have no presence inside,”
Howland said. “I like big guys who get mad when they
don’t get the ball. That’s not in his nature.”
Howland spoke to the team during Monday’s practice about the
importance of getting the ball to Fey, who admitted that he too
must do a better job of demanding opportunities to score. “I
need to make myself more assertive in the paint,” Fey said.
“Hopefully by doing that the guards will recognize that and
pass it in more.”
LONG ROAD TRIP: Instead of the typical Thursday-Saturday road
swing, UCLA will have an extra day in the Bay Area due to
Sunday’s nationally televised match-up with Stanford. A
longer road trip, Howland said, is both a blessing and a curse for
the Bruins. “There are pluses and minuses,” he said.
“We have more time to prepare for the Stanford game which I
like, but it’s also an extra day on the road.”
DRIBBLERS: Howland said that he did not expect Josh Shipp to be
hampered by his right thigh bruise this week … Aliso High School
in Reseda held a renaming ceremony on Tuesday to announce that it
has officially changed its name to John R. Wooden High School.