Mistakes are a product of the learning experience. For the women’s basketball team, the process of correcting those mistakes is the key to preparation for the next opponent.
Today, UCLA will take on Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo.
While the Bruins have defeated all of their California competition so far this preseason, UCLA saw its first loss in a trip to Maryland on Sunday. Before UCLA’s matchup with Cal Poly SLO, the Bruins have been practicing to clean up their mistakes from the weekend.
“What we realize is that we broke down with our defensive assignments, and we weren’t as offensively efficient in the half-court setting,” coach Nikki Caldwell said. “So no matter who you are playing, those are things you can always work on.”
So far this season, the Bruins’ approach to games, first and foremost, has been to fix their own mistakes from the previous game before moving on to scouting their upcoming opponent. According to sophomore guard Doreena Campbell, reviewing game tapes from the preseason matches has helped the Bruins pinpoint what they need to work on no matter what the outcome of the game is.
“For the most part, we play a lot of good preseason teams,” Campbell said. “Obviously winning is a good thing, but when we lose, we will learn.”
Cal Poly SLO enters the match with a 2-1 record. The Mustangs’ one loss comes at the expense of Pepperdine, the only common opponent between Cal Poly SLO and UCLA. While Cal Poly SLO fell to Pepperdine 79-72 two weeks ago in its season opener, UCLA defeated Pepperdine 66-55 last week.
In the school’s history, the Bruins have never lost a game to Cal Poly SLO, going 5-0 all-time against the Mustangs. When the two teams met last season, the Bruins scored a season-high in points, winning 107-83. Sophomore guard Darxia Morris scored a season-high 21 points in that matchup.
The Mustangs return three starters from last season. They are led by senior forward Megan Harrison and senior guard Lisa McBride. Harrison averages 16.7 points per game, while McBride averages 13.7 points. The two seniors will be the main offensive weapons that UCLA will have to keep an eye on, but according to Caldwell, the Mustangs have the potential to extend UCLA’s defense because they are a very versatile team.
“Cal Poly is a team that does a great job at sharing the basketball,” Caldwell said. “They have players who can shoot the three.”
To come away with a Thanksgiving win, UCLA will rely on exactly what it has been practicing in the two days leading up to the game: defense.
“We are going to have to make sure that we are playing our man-to-man defense and our postgame is playing man-to-man defense on the perimeter as well,” Caldwell said.