The UCLA men’s basketball team is playing with a chip on its shoulder.
Two straight wins and marked improvement on both ends of the floor have done little to appease the doubts stirred up by the team’s opening-night loss.
“We have to make up for our performance a couple weeks ago,” sophomore forward Drew Gordon said, referring to the team’s 68-65 double-overtime loss to Cal State Fullerton.
Monday night’s victory over Pepperdine was UCLA’s most complete game of the season with Gordon scoring 18 points inside and senior guard Michael Roll nailing five of nine shots from beyond the arc. Usually that kind of night could buy the Bruins at least a week of positive feeling, but with the fall schedule being as tough as it is, there’s no time to savor the moment.
The next step for UCLA (2-1) will be to show up against Portland (3-0) in the first round of the highly competitve 76 Classic, a three-round tournament taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center that features four nationally ranked teams. Portland has already knocked off one Pac-10 team, Oregon, and has the potential to be the first team since 2000 to unseat powerhouse Gonzaga from the WCC regular season championship, UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
“(Portland is) going to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Howland said. “They’re that good.”
The Pilots are led by five senior starters, including guard Nik Raivio, who has averaged 19 points and nine rebounds so far this year.
With tip-off at 7:30 on Thursday night, the players will be sacrificing their Thanksgiving meals for some quality prime-time exposure.
“There’ll be a lot of people finishing with their big turkey dinner, relaxing in front of the TV,” Howland said. “We’re going to have a great audience to watch us play.”
“I kind of enjoy it to be honest,” Roll said of the start time. “It’s what we like to do, and we’re going to enjoy it.”