If the typical early season nonconference lineup filled with bad
teams can be called a cupcake schedule, then UCLA’s should be
called meatloaf. It might still be food, but it’s tough to
eat meatloaf for breakfast.
The No. 20 Bruins (2-1) will face off against No. 3 Oklahoma
tonight at Pauley Pavilion, their second game against a top-five
team in five days, no easy task for any team.
The Sooners (3-0) come in with one of the top post players in
the country in sophomore Courtney Paris who has already set the
school record for double-doubles.
“I don’t think you slow someone like that
down,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “She’s very
demanding of the basketball. She’s very aggressive.
She’s a good-sized body but very agile. She doesn’t
have a lot of weaknesses. She does a lot of positive things for
that program.”
The Bruins will try to focus on stopping the rest of the team,
without letting Paris dominate the game. Last season, Paris racked
up 24 points and 22 rebounds in an 83-78 victory over UCLA in
Norman, Okla.
“Courtney’s going to get hers,” senior guard
Noelle Quinn said. “It’s a matter of containing
everybody else.”
The Bruins will try to use what they learned from their 23-point
loss at No. 5 Tennessee on Thursday to their advantage tonight,
specifically in their transition game.
“Hopefully we can do a little better job of matching up
and not allowing so many transition baskets,” Olivier said.
“Another thing is, defensively we have to be more active for
40 minutes. It’s a good test for us to see if we have learned
anything in the past two games.”
To match up against the size and athleticism of the
Sooners’ lineup, the Bruins are preparing multiple defenses
to keep Oklahoma guessing.
“We have different looks defensively,” Olivier said.
“We’re going to keep them on their toes as much as we
can. We feel like we can match up with them. I don’t think we
have to go crazy defensively and have this Mickey Mouse and not
continue to do what we do defensively. If we have good on-ball
pressure and we are disruptive, we’re a pretty good
basketball team.”
Despite turning the ball over 26 times Saturday in their win
over UC Riverside, the Bruins see some of that as a positive
step.
“Ten of those (turnovers) were offensive fouls,”
Olivier said. “Do we need to take care of the basketball?
Yes, we do. But there were some good turnovers, because we were
very aggressive. … Against Oklahoma we have to continue to be
aggressive. If we get some offensive fouls, I’m OK with
that.”
Playing at home in Pauley Pavilion will be a welcome break for
the Bruins, for whom this will be the biggest home game of the
season so far.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of people are going to
come,” Quinn said. “Coach has been saying that
they’re expecting a lot of people so just a normal Pauley
Pavilion game with a lot of blue ““ all the fans screaming.
They’re the No. 3 team in the country, so that’s
exciting within itself. Just having that extra added fan support is
going to help us play better.”
In addition to the anticipation of having a top team come in,
the Bruins are also looking for some retribution after almost
coming back to beat the Sooners last season.
“We played Oklahoma last year and they beat us at their
place,” Olivier said. “It would be nice to give them a
little payback.”