That screeching sound you heard in Westwood at 3:01 p.m. on Saturday? That was the UCLA bandwagon prematurely derailing.
After a 61-58 overtime loss to Arizona State, UCLA coach Ben Howland shouldered responsibility for not employing his bench well.
The Bruins, who routed Arizona 83-60 Thursday night, ran out of gas against the Sun Devils, going almost ten minutes without a point and 12 minutes without field goal extending into overtime. They led 54-43 with 8:12 lefton a jumper by Michael Roll and seemed primed for their 11th consecutive win, but amazingly didn’t score again in regulation.
Not a single point.
The blame for the disappointing offense rests on Howland’s approach ““ a snooze-fest featuring 20 seconds of perimeter passing before entertaining the idea of scoring ““ and on UCLA’s players, who for the final 13 minutes of the game, rarely ventured inside the 3-point line due to an inexplicable fear of the basket.
Not a stellar performance from coach Howland, whose resume sparkles with three Coach of the Year awards (one each from the Big Sky, Big East and Pac-10).
In Saturday’s chess match, he was outmaneuvered by Arizona State’s Herb Sendek.
After a Nikola Dragovic 3-pointer capped a 14-2 UCLA run and gave the Bruins a 35-29 lead with 15:50 to play, the Arizona State Sun Devils transformed into the Arizona State Hardens.
Up to then, the Pac-10’s best player, James Harden, had been passive for the better part of 25 minutes, accruing just five points on two shots. It was then that he quickly became the focal point of the ASU offense.
Sendek spaced the floor and ran a series of isolations for Harden, who relentlessly attacked UCLA’s defense with crossovers, spins and floaters en route to 19 points after halftime.
After a timeout at 15:50, Sendek’s Princeton offense was dumbed down to Harden-Ball: Throw the ball to No. 13 and get the heck out of the way. Or provide a ball screen if he asks for one.
From that point forward, Arizona State had 26 possessions. On only three of those trips did Harden not touch the ball. Only twice in the final 21 minutes did he fail to make something happen (those two trips resulted in a turnover and a missed jumper by a teammate).
Put another way, Harden looked to attack on 91 percent (21-of-23) of the possessions during which he touched the ball. During the stretch, he directly generated 21 points (19 points and an assist), and was indirectly responsible for four Jeff Pendergraph points (an easy putback on a Harden miss after the defense focused on Harden and an open jumper after Harden was double-teamed).
While Harden morphed into a one-man team, UCLA’s best players contented themselves with merely passing the ball around the perimeter as if it were an exercise. The Bruins suffered through an anemic 9:31 drought without scoring, seemingly content to run down the clock.
On one end, Harden was looking to get the ball and go. On the other, UCLA ““ either mentally and physically fatigued or flummoxed by ASU’s matchup zone ““ was looking for someone else to go and get it.
The Bruins never countered the Sun Devils’ offensive shift. I’m not sure what Howland could have done ““ abandon his vaunted man-to-man to throw a box-and-one at Harden? ““ but doing nothing changed, well, nothing. Harden outscored the Bruins 10-4 over the final 13:12.
The only thing that slowed the Sun Devil in the second half was a collision with Alfred Aboya’s chest that sent a woozy Harden to the bench for 40 seconds. He quickly returned and resumed his Chinese water torture of the UCLA defense.
Despite the Bruins’ subpar showing on Saturday, Howland is still an elite coach. His teams are always fundamentally sound, well-prepared and outstanding defensively.
But if UCLA is going to make any type of run in the NCAA Tournament, Howland and his players need to be at the top of their respective games ““ there is little margin for error with this team. Howland must adjust and manage his bench better and his leading scorers ““ Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Jrue Holiday ““ need to be more aggressive offensively.
You can’t win if you can’t score.
Was it fatigue, lack of experience or coaching that caused the Bruins’ meltdown against ASU? Let Taylor know at btaylor@media.ucla.edu.