There was one particular moment that UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland chose to focus on during his weekly press conference on Monday.
It was the moment in which he believed freshman guard Jrue Holiday made a mistake on defense, and one in which he believes the Bruin starting shooting guard must ““ and will ““ improve upon.
The Bruins were leading Miami of Ohio 33-30 early in the second half of Thursday’s game when Holiday gambled and went for a steal. He missed the ball, leaving Miami guard Michael Bramos with an open 3-point shot. He made the shot to tie the game at 33.
These are the kind of situations that Howland said Holiday will learn from, and the kind that will ultimately make him a better player.
“He’s gaining experience and there’s no substitute for that,” Howland said.
Just two games into his college career, Howland said that he has a huge role defensively in store for Holiday: the task of guarding the other team’s best player. It is the role that former Bruins Arron Afflalo and Russell Westbrook played during their time at UCLA, and it is the assignment Howland said Holiday will draw this season due to the physical gifts he possesses.
“For us to be the team that we want to be, bottom line is (he’s going to have to do that),” Howland said. “There’s going to be games where he’s going to be guarding great players, and there’s going to be times where it’s going to be hard. But he’ll figure it out.”
Howland noted that it is not an easy task for the young freshman to undertake, and there will be a learning curve, as was the case with both Afflalo and Westbrook early in their careers.
Howland said that during Afflalo’s first season, the freshman struggled with the assignment and had some off nights defensively. The same was said of Westbrook, who evolved from an average defender to the Pac-10 defensive player of the year.
Yet, Howland cautioned that Holiday’s learning curve will be much shorter than the other two Bruins and that much of the experience and learning will have to be done on the fly.
“It’s always hard when you’re changing levels, whether you’re going from high school to college or college to the NBA,” Howland said. “It’s just different. There’s no doubt that Jrue’s going to end up being a really good player for us. He’s thrusted into a very difficult role right away, and I think I alluded to this after the game ““ I’m expecting him to come in here and guard their best player on the other team.”
Senior forward Josh Shipp said that learning how to play defense at the college level is a difficult thing for a young player to fully grasp.
“It’s tough,” Shipp said. “A lot of guys don’t like playing defense or don’t take as much pride in it. It’s one of those situations where he has to bring it every night. He’s going to be playing against great wing players, so he just has to be ready for that challenge.”
Offensively, Howland said there are a few things he would like to see Holiday improve on, such as taking open shots instead of trying to drive by defenders.
“He’s just got to look to shoot from the perimeter more,” Howland said. “He’s so used to being able to get it and drive and make plays. As you’re playing against bigger, stronger players, sometimes he passes up an open shot to dribble it once to a guarded shot. Things like that. Just decision-making and figuring that out, and he is.”
TEAM STILL IMPROVING: Two games and 21 practices into the season, players and coaches both admitted that the team is not where they wish it to be and that a lot of learning is still taking place.
Howland said that with such a young team and the short amount of time the players have had to play with one another, habits have yet to be developed and ingrained in the minds of players.
“Basketball is a game of repetition and a game of doing things over and over again, and trying to do them right over and over again,” Howland said. “You’re not going to pick up and maintain a lot of habits that soon. It takes time to build habits of what you do, and I do understand that it’s very early.”