When the Bruins open their final road trip of the season against Arizona State, they will have one thing on their minds: earning a trip back to the Grand Canyon state.
For UCLA, this is the shortest possible path through the NCAA tournament. In terms of distance, they would be in the West regional, opening in Anaheim, heading to Phoenix, and then to the Final Four in San Antonio. The Bruins are hoping to avoid flying around the country in the middle rounds, as so many teams are forced to do.
Staying close to home eases the travel burden and increases fan turnout, making it arguably more important than getting a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
“At the end of the day one or two, you gotta play someone really good,” coach Ben Howland said. “It’s funny. I looked at a mock tournament, what’s the difference between that 7-10, that 8-9? They’re all so good. One is gonna have to play two, eventually if you keep going. I just don’t want to travel across the country if we can avoid it. It just makes it better. The chancellor would agree with that.”
No. 4 UCLA (24-3, 12-2 Pac-10) has four games remaining in the season and is holding onto a one game lead over Stanford in the conference. With Washington State a distant third-place team, the fight for the Pac-10 title is a two-horse race and so is the battle to get the coveted West regional seed.
“(We need to) win the Pac-10,” Howland said. “I think either Stanford or UCLA will get that path. I don’t think it’ll be anybody else in the West.”
The first team in UCLA’s way is Arizona State (17-9, 7-7 Pac-10), a program on the rise that handed Stanford a 72-68 loss in overtime on Valentine’s Day. Now at .500 in conference and fighting for their tournament life, the Sun Devils are expected to come out with a lot of intensity.
“(They’re) very dangerous,” guard Russell Westbrook said. “They’re trying to get into the tournament. … They’re coming out and giving their best shot, so we have to be ready.”
For a team hoping to impress the selection committee, a win against UCLA would look very good along with its other wins. Arizona State had already taken down Arizona, claimed an overtime road win at Cal and beaten Stanford at home.
“They have some real good quality wins,” Howland said. “We’re just hoping one of them’s not on Thursday. … Bottom line is if they beat us, that obviously enhances their resume to get in, so we know they’re gonna play very hard.”
The last time the two teams met, all of the talk was about how the Sun Devils’ tough zone would give the Bruins problems. Howland’s team had been struggling to get into an offensive rhythm against the zone, and it was thought that Arizona State might make it a long night in Pauley Pavilion.
That didn’t happen.
The Bruins jumped on the Sun Devils from the opening tip-off, with no problems against the zone. They led by 22 at the half and went on to win 84-51.
A big part of UCLA’s ability to break the zone was its outside shooting. Forward Josh Shipp had a field day, going 5-8 from behind the arc as part of his game-high 21 points.
Unfortunately, that game was the last time Shipp sunk a 3-pointer. Since then, he has been 0-20 from three, a streak he is hoping to end in the desert.
“They’re very tough,” Shipp said. “They play a match-up zone. They give a lot of teams problems. They’re a young team and they’re playing hard for their coach. If you’re not shooting the ball well from the outside, it’s gonna be a long night for you.”