It is no secret that the trip to Pullman, Wash., is a daunting one.
At a time of the year when the snow starts to turn the Evergreen State into a canvas of white, the weather always seems to be an issue.
Add in the remote location of the small town of Pullman and the fact that teams usually have to fly into Spokane and make a two-hour bus ride into town, and you get a sense of the difficulty teams encounter.
Yet for UCLA senior forward Josh Shipp and the No. 13 Bruins (14-3, 4-1 Pac-10) who have won in Pullman 15 years in a row, it seems that Washington State’s remote atmosphere can work in its favor.
“We go up there and we’re focused,” Shipp said. “Maybe it’s because it’s the middle of nowhere and there’s nothing else to do, we might have a lot more focus. Like I said, they’re Pac-10 games. We know how important these games are to go out there and take care of business.”
The Bruins will have to be extra focused this week when they take on the Cougars (11-6, 3-2) tonight and the Washington Huskies (13-4, 4-1) on Saturday if they wish to stay atop the Pac-10.
After the Bruins’ surprising loss at home to No. 17 Arizona State last weekend, a game in which UCLA’s 11-point second-half lead was whittled away due to an inept offense, a multitude of questions arose.
Is UCLA coach Ben Howland’s defense-first coaching style the best way to go about getting victories?
Who will step up as the consistent go-to scorer?
Can the Bruins make a fourth consecutive appearance in the Final Four?
With a successful weekend against a defensively tough Washington State team and a talented Washington squad, those questions might come closer to being answered.
First up for the Bruins is a WSU team that is coping with the loss of two talented players, Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, who helped to build the Cougar program to a level of respectability in the last few years.
Despite the loss of two key parts to their team, the Cougars return a core of experienced players, led by senior guard Taylor Rochestie, senior center Aron Baynes and senior forward Daven Harmeling.
“Low and Weaver were terrific,” Howland said. “They lost two really good guards there, but you know Rochestie’s coming back and he ran the point last year. He’s doing a very good job. Baynes and Harmeling, all these guys are back and seniors, so they have a good senior core to lead the younger players.”
UCLA junior forward Nikola Dragovic agreed with his coach, referring to the Bruins’ recent exodus of players, such as Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, as a sign that teams can always bounce back from these losses.
“Everybody loses players,” Dragovic said. “We lost our four leading rebounders, and they lost their two players. They’re still a great team.”
Heading into any matchup against Washington State, the Bruins know what kind of game they are going to get from the Cougars: a grind-it-out style on offense with a heavy emphasis on defense. Currently the Cougars rank first in the Pac-10 in defense, allowing an average of just 52.4 points per game.
“They slow it down, kind of sagging man (defense) that’s tricky to go against,” Shipp said. “We just need to execute. That’s our main thing. If we execute, we’ll be alright.”
On Saturday, the Bruins will head to Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies, a team that has rebounded from a 16-17 season last year to forge a three-way tie atop the Pac-10 standings so far this season.
The Huskies rank first in the Pac-10 in both scoring offense (78.6 points per game) and rebounds (43.1 per game).
Last season, the Huskies handed the Bruins one of their three regular-season losses, a 71-61 win at Bank of America Arena on Feb. 10. If the Bruins wish to avenge that loss, they will need to account for senior forward Jon Brockman on the boards. Brockman is second in the Pac-10 in rebounding, averaging 10.7 rebounds per game.
With an important weekend ahead of them and the traveling difficulties that can often come up on a road trip to Washington, Dragovic and the Bruins wish to focus solely on the games.
“Just getting to Washington State is going to be a beast,” Dragovic said. “But we have the whole day tomorrow to rest and get ready for the game. We’ll be fine.”
With reports from Jason Feder, Bruin Sports senior staff.