Like her basketball team’s season, junior guard Erica Tukiainen’s tonal inflection when speaking after Sunday’s loss to Stanford is difficult to describe.
Her words, at least, were easy to understand at the surface level.
“It’s hard,” she simply said of the loss.
But the mix of sadness, frustration and pure emptiness with which she said those two words added depth to her meaning.
It’s hard to pinpoint a word that can describe Tukiainen’s tone just as it is hard to simplify the Bruins’ season.
The team is 14-6, and 5-4 in the Pac-10. Looking at the record alone, this is UCLA’s best start in years.
To put it in perspective, the Bruins had won only 10 games at this very same point each of the last three seasons.
But the Bruins aren’t all that happy. Losses at top-10 schools California and Stanford made it clear why.
When the Bruins have played with intensity for 40 minutes, stuck to their game plans and played the type of defense first-year coach Nikki Caldwell commands, they win.
Ask Washington State, a team the Bruins beat by 35, about that. Or talk to Kansas, a team the Bruins upset on national television.
But as evidenced last weekend, there are also games in which the Bruins fail to bring it.
That’s where it gets confusing.
UCLA knows what they have to do. They know the problem is that they aren’t focused for a full 40. They know they can beat the Pac-10’s top team.
But just as they did against teams like Oregon and Texas Tech, for some reason, they fall apart at pivotal times.
“I would rather the team record reflect us playing at a level of intensity every possession, and because we haven’t, I’m not happy,” Caldwell said, halfway through her first year at the helm.
“I think there is so much more this team can give. I think they have a huge upside to them, and I think they will have an opportunity to have success.”
Offense
It seems the Bruins’ best offensive days are their best defensive days as well.
Caldwell has talked over and over with her team about how their defense will create turnovers and those turnovers will create fast-break points.
Such has been the case in wins the team has had over USC and Washington State where they have tallied 80-plus points. In fact, the team hasn’t lost when they scored over 70.
The problem, according to Caldwell, has largely been creating points in the paint and relying too much on guard play, particularly on leading scorers Doreena Campbell and Tukiainen.
“Establishing that inside attack is something we struggle with, and we have struggled with it all year,” Caldwell said.
The team has gone through major offensive cold periods, particularly in the second halves of games, which has put more pressure on their vaunted defense and has usually spelled a loss. In their four conference losses, the team has been held under 60 points.
Defense and rebounding
Caldwell’s mantra and entire coaching philosophy revolves around winning games through defense and board play.
UCLA’s defense and rebounding has largely lived up to expectations, and the Bruins have lived and died by it. UCLA has been outstanding at forcing turnovers and taking it to opponents when they bring the intensity Caldwell desires.
The Bruins held Arizona to 38 points and a 23 percent field-goal percentage in their game weeks ago.
On a bigger stage, they jumped out to an 11-2 lead and a 10-2 lead against Cal and Stanford respectively.
As of Feb. 3, UCLA was fourth in the nation in rebounding margin, outboarding their opponents by 9.6 boards per game.
But all of that comes with another side to it. When UCLA has failed to play intense defense for an entire game, other good teams have exploited them.
“It’s very frustrating when we don’t play this game with strict fundamentals,” Caldwell said.
Players and coaches attributed a lack of defensive intensity and the fact that they got out-rebounded as major reasons for last weekend’s two losses.
Cal and Stanford shot 65 and 58 percent from the field in the second half of their two wins, and Stanford amassed 17 offensive rebounds against the Bruins which led to 20 second chance points.
“We are able to compete with the teams,” Tukiainen said. “But then we are just unable to follow though.”
Intangibles
Thus, the Bruins know what they need to do to get better. The problem is that it is largely an uncoachable attribute.
“It’s the psychology of the game,” Tukiainen said. “How do you become better at that? How do you improve that? Other than practice, it’s a thing where you have to focus on yourself off the court.”
Players say that Caldwell and her staff have assembled great game plans, and that it is now their responsibility to bring the dedication necessary to succeed.
This is where the frustration, disappointment and loss for words take its toll. Every player on the team knows that it is at least partly a matter of effort, and yet they seem to be trying to give their all.
“As much as the coaches try to make adjustments, I think it is now up to us players,” Tukiainen said. “It is now up to us players to take the responsibility and take it to the next level.”
What’s Next?
Despite all the effort to get even better, Caldwell does see a great deal of improvement relative to her first practice.
“I think we are leaning how to not only play hard, but play as a unit,” she said. “I think they are realizing that when they do play that way, good things will happen for them, but I also think they know when they deviate from that, they are led to trouble. I think we are definitely a lot better than we were day one.”
But if the Bruins want to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006, they will indeed need to push themselves a little harder and not settle for a solid season.
Conventional wisdom says that 20 wins gets a team an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. That means that the Bruins need to go 6-3 in their remaining nine games.
If they take care of business and beat everyone but ASU, Cal and Stanford, it would seem they have a shot at the tournament.
But Caldwell also thinks they need a few more quality wins. Although they won at Kansas, they missed opportunities at Maryland, Texas Tech and the three aforementioned Pac-10 schools.
“In the second half of conference play, we are going to have to figure out how to get to the top and be there in the hunt for a Pac-10 Championship and hopefully an NCAA tournament bid,” Caldwell said.
If the Bruins did take a positive from their road trip up north, it was that they now know that can compete with the conference and nation’s best.
To do that however, they will have to play for 40 minutes.
“We know that we can compete,” Tukiainen said. “I feel like we are one of the top teams in the Pac-10. We are still trying to put the puzzle together. We do have the talent, and when we do play the defense and good rebounding, we’re unstoppable.”