CORVALLIS, Ore. “”mdash; His shoulders slump. His hands droop
down to his knees as he bends forward for a moment of respite. On
every mistake he scolds himself, pointing at every nitpicky flaw.
His biggest critic is himself.
For the better part of January, UCLA guard Arron Afflalo has
been the loneliest man on the court.
No one really understands the offensive woes he’s going
through, and he wants to keep it that way.
“As long as it doesn’t affect the team and other
areas of my game, I don’t worry about it,” Afflalo
said.
Surprisingly enough, it hasn’t.
Afflalo recorded his first career double-double, 11 points and
10 rebounds, on Saturday despite having yet another poor night of
shooting: he hit just four of 14 shots and missed all five of his
3-point attempts.
“The good news is he finds other ways,” UCLA coach
Ben Howland said. “That shows great character on his part to
get a double-double today.”
Defensively, Afflalo has made a name for himself by guarding the
opposing team’s best guard. Afflalo held the Beaver’s
leading scorer Chris Stephens, who averages 14.5 points per game,
to just four.
“Chris Stephens was defended by an NBA guy in Arron
Afflalo,” Oregon State coach Jay John said. “He did a
great job in that he didn’t let Chris have looks. And
it’s the first game that Chris has had that hasn’t been
a good game for him.”
Nevertheless, Afflalo’s struggles on offense are
disconcerting. His shot has fallen into an abyss over the last
seven games, shooting 39 percent (30-for-87) from the field and
sinking just 15 percent of his 3-pointers (7-for-48). In
comparison, in his first 14 games, Afflalo fired at a 56 percent
clip (90-162) and made a blistering 45 percent (38-84) from the
three-point line.
Against Oregon State, he missed wide-open shots. The ball
careened to the left and right. Long and short. Off the side of the
backboard. On one 3-point shot along the baseline, Afflalo missed
so badly he nearly banked it in.
Yet, he didn’t want to call this stretch a slump. He
doesn’t know what it is.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Afflalo
said. “It’s not a slump because I’m taking shots
that I always take. Other than them not falling, I don’t even
want to speak about my offensive game. It’s where it is.
That’s where it is.
“When you get off a little bit you lose that swagger and
that confidence that you had that allows you to make those shots.
That’s where I’m at. I just need a little time and
I’ll be right back where I know I can be.”
When asked for the reasoning behind Afflalo’s offensive
woes, Howland suggested that Afflalo’s relentless work ethic
may be the culprit behind his struggle.
“I don’t know if he’s ever taken two days off
this year. Maybe once,” Howland said. “We were supposed
to take two days off coming back from Arizona and Arizona State,
but no, he’s in the gym on Monday.
“It’s being patient and smart. Sometimes it’s
not about spending 20 hours (in the gym). Sometimes you take a step
back and let your body heal. His body, as tough as it is, everybody
needs a rest.”
Afflalo’s tried everything to get out of his funk.
There’s only one thing he hasn’t done ““
listen.
“Man, I’m going to lie in bed,” he said.
“I’m going to just relax. I need to get my head
together.”