Dismal starts dampen victories

At first glance, it may look like all is well in Westwood with
UCLA basketball. The No. 19 Bruins swept the Oregon schools by a
combined 35 points to remain atop the Pac-10 conference.

But in this case, don’t believe everything you see. UCLA
has been playing a dangerous game of Jekyll and Hyde lately,
playing sloppy and lethargic basketball to start games leading to
halftime deficits of six and five to Oregon State and Oregon,
respectively.

In both games, the Bruins came out in the second half with
increased energy and crisper offensive execution to grab much
needed wins against inferior opponents.

“We still have to improve,” said coach Ben
Howland.

And this team needs to start improving quickly. As tournament
time approaches, every play and every possession becomes magnified,
and if the Bruins continue to play poorly in the first half of
games they will find themselves coming home a round or two early
from the Big Dance.

In both games this past weekend, UCLA has made up for its slow
starts by coming out in the second half and burying its opponents
with better energy and execution.

The question that should be on everybody’s mind should be
is: Where is that same great energy and execution to start every
game?

“We were being really tentative in the first half (against
Oregon),” said sophomore guard Jordan Farmar. “We
weren’t being aggressive in looking to break down (the
defense). At halftime we talked about it, and we knew we had to get
it done.”

The Bruins are still struggling with key components such as free
throw shooting and their offensive execution against zone defenses.
The slow starts over the past weekend are troubling, as a top
four-seed in the NCAA tournament and a conference title hang in the
balance.

The Bruins simply have not been as good of a basketball team as
they can be.

Well, for half of the games at least.

On Sunday, the Bruins only scored 23 points in the first half
and committed nine turnovers before outscoring Oregon by 22 in the
second half. UCLA also took much better care of the ball, only
turning it over twice while being much more aggressive, resulting
in 15 trips to the free throw line.

Hopefully the Bruins can capture whatever has gotten them going
in the second half of recent games because the key part of the
season is upon them. March is only a few days away.

If UCLA plays as poorly in the first half of an NCAA tournament
game as they did against both Oregon schools, they can say goodbye
to a potential trip to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond.

Teams have learned that the way to stifle UCLA is to feed them a
steady diet of zone defenses. Both the Ducks and Beavers used zones
to limit the Bruins to only 49 combined points in the first
half.

West Virginia and Washington also utilized zones to beat UCLA in
critical match-ups earlier in the year. The Bruins need to keep
working on their offensive execution, as they can expect to face
even more zones in the NCAA tournament.

Hopefully, the Bruins can figure out a way to come out at the
beginning of games the same way they’ve been finishing them.
With a soft bubble across the nation, it’s possible that any
of the top 25 teams in the nation can, with a little luck, make a
run towards the Final Four. UCLA is one of those teams, but only if
it can figure out how to play a complete game instead of just a
half.

E-mail Lee at jlee3@media.ucla.edu.

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