After UCLA’s narrow victory over Arizona State on Thursday, the same old question naturally presented itself.
What is it about the zone defense that UCLA has so much trouble with?
For the first 14 minutes against Arizona on Saturday, UCLA’s struggles against the zone continued, and Arizona jumped out to a 25-17 lead ““ a lead that likely would have been a lot bigger if junior guard Arron Afflalo hadn’t been making most of his outside shots.
But after a timeout with 6:09 remaining in the half, everything changed. UCLA went with a smaller lineup and began to penetrate the Wildcats’ zone and hit more jump shots. The Bruins’ success on offense also carried over on the defensive side of the ball.
The major adjustment that UCLA coach Ben Howland made against Arizona’s zone was the use of a four-guard lineup. Afflalo and sophomores Michael Roll, Josh Shipp and Darren Collison were on the floor together for a considerable amount of time against the Wildcats, with freshman guard Russell Westbrook filling in as well.
The four-guard look was something Howland had experimented with briefly at Oregon, but had not used in any other game this season.
But with sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute out, and a versatile Arizona frontcourt to deal with, the coach thought it necessary to sacrifice a little size for offensive production against the zone
“(The four-guard set) was more for offense than defense,” Howland said. “That’s what’s shown the most effectiveness from watching the film, the way that Oregon and some other teams attacked it.”
When the flexible Mbah a Moute comes back, Howland will probably not have to go with the small lineup as much as he did against Arizona on Saturday.
But if Mbah a Moute is unable to return for the games against Stanford and California this weekend, the four-guard set will likely be a big part of UCLA’s attack, especially against a smaller California team.
“It’s an advantage and disadvantage,” Collison said. “The disadvantage is that we have to really (focus on) the boards. We were having trouble rebounding late in the first half (against Arizona). It’s an advantage because we have so many great shooters and everybody can just spot up, and it made it easier for us late in the first half as well.”
BRUINS STILL NO. 3: UCLA’s sweep of the Arizona schools was only good enough for the Bruins to maintain their No. 3 spot in the Associated Press Poll, as No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Wisconsin won their games as well.
The Bruins received six first-place votes, compared to Wisconsin’s 22 and Florida’s 42. In the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, the Bruins remained at No. 2 for the second straight week, ahead of Wisconsin but behind Florida.
USC, which also swept the Arizona schools this week, cracked the AP top 25 for the first time since the 2001-2002 season. The Trojans, ranked 25th, give the Pac-10 conference five ranked teams.
Oregon moved up two spots to No. 7 after sweeping California and Stanford at home.
Washington State also re-entered the AP poll after a dominating 75-47 home win against Washington.
The Cougars, who were dropped from the poll after an overtime loss to Stanford last week, are now ranked No. 20.
Arizona dropped six spots to No. 17 after its losses to UCLA and USC.