Before start of tournament, team turns to fundamentals

The Bruins had quite a few low points during their shocking loss to Cal on Thursday.

The Bears’ Ayinde Ubaka scored a season-high 29 points, Arron Afflalo was held to three points, and the Bruins had 14 turnovers.

So when the team got back to practice at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, the focus was on one thing: fundamentals.

“It was our hardest practice in a long time,” Darren Collison said. “We just had to go back to our roots, and that’s defense.”

The Bruins’ practice lasted two and a half hours, and according to the players, consisted of a lot of conditioning drills and was extremely physical and intense.

According to sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the players enjoyed the intense nature of the practice and said it helped the team iron out some of the issues the Bruins had been struggling with.

“Everyone had a good practice; we went back to the basics,” Mbah a Moute said. “We need to have the same type of practices this week to be ready for Thursday.”

One of the things the team worked on in particular was stopping the opposing team’s dribble penetration.

In the Bruins’ last two losses, both opposing teams were able to break down the Bruins’ defense and shoot over 40 percent from the field.

“We have had a lot of defensive breakdowns the last two games, and we had to rededicate ourselves,” sophomore Alfred Aboya said. “If you look back at last year, what got us as far we did was playing defense.

“If we go back to playing defense, we will win some games.”

The result from the practice is that the Bruins have a renewed sense of confidence heading into the NCAA Tournament, and are aware they can be the team that won the Pac-10 title just 10 days ago.

They just need to be reminded of what got them there.

“We worked on things we hadn’t worked on since Oct. 15,” Howland said. “We actually improved as a team, so I was happy coming out of the practice on Saturday.”

The key for the men’s basketball team now, beginning with Saturday’s practice, is to keep up the same intensity the rest of the week in practice so they do not have a lapse against the Weber State Wildcats like they did against Cal last Thursday.

“I said this week would be a true testament of our character, and I am happy with the way we have responded so far,” Afflalo said. “But you will find out Thursday how we really responded.”

AFFLALO AGGRESSIVE: Following Thursday’s game against Cal, coach Howland said he would have Afflalo be more aggressive in practice after he took a season-low seven shots against the Bears.

Three days later, Howland said he was pleased with the way Afflalo responded during Saturday’s practice.

“Arron had a good practice (Saturday); he played within himself,” Howland recalls. “We need to have Arron play the consistent game he has been playing night-in and night-out if we are going to do well in the tournament.”

WEBER STATE LOYALTIES: Howland said on Sunday that many of his former teammates from his alma mater Weber State would be in attendance for Thursday’s game in Sacramento.

When asked which team they would be rooting for, Howland said there was no question.

“UCLA,” he said. “They will be rooting for one of their best friends, because we are the ones who battled through everything together and relied on each other.”

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