Kyle Anderson finished his freshman season on a down note.
As UCLA slumped off the floor following its 63-83 loss to Minnesota in the NCAA tournament, Anderson’s stat line showed just six points on 2-11 shooting.
Nearly seven months later, the guard/forward is preparing to begin his sophomore season, looking to leave behind his shaky final performance while living up to some lofty expectations.
On Wednesday, Anderson was one of 22 players around the country named to the Lute Olson Preseason All-America Team. With this early distinction, along with coach Steve Alford’s repeated declarations of Anderson’s expanded role this year, Anderson admitted he’s beginning to feel some of the pressure that comes with the high praise.
“Yeah (there’s pressure), but I think I also have a very good support system – great group of guys, great teammates on and off the court, so it’s a lot of pressure, but I’m comfortable with who I’m taking on this role with,” Anderson said.
After Anderson finished last year averaging 9.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists, Alford said he expects the sophomore to shoulder even more of the load this season, as the departure of forward Shabazz Muhammad leaves Anderson as one of UCLA’s top returning players.”(He’ll have a) big role (because) he will play any of four positions,” Alford said. “He’ll play any of the three guard positions and we will play him at (power forward) as well because he’s arguably one of our best rebounders. … Kyle will be on the floor a lot.”
Feeling fresh
While Alford and Anderson both envision the sophomore playing point guard throughout the year, two freshman guards are also vying for playing time at the spot. Bryce Alford and Zach LaVine have both impressed their teammates through the first three weeks of practice.
“They’re versatile. Zach, Bryce, they’re very versatile where they can play the wing and knock down an open jump shot or they can set guys up,” Anderson said. “We have a lot of guys that can do different things, so I’m very happy with how well the freshmen have played.”
Still yet to play a game in college, both LaVine and Bryce Alford said they are quickly adjusting to the transition from high school to college basketball.
“It took a little bit, a quick little transition,” said LaVine. “Everyone is the best player from their team so you just got to play with your A-game every time, but I feel with my athleticism, I can step right in and change real quick so it wasn’t that hard.”
While LaVine has used his athleticism as a crutch during the transition, Bryce Alford has made the most of his familiarity with his father’s offensive system early on, saying that he’s been running some of the plays for four years.
“(The) key for me is I knew most of the plays coming in,” Bryce Alford said. “Obviously there’s some things I didn’t quite know and a lot I still need to learn about the ins and outs of the offensive and defensive schemes, but just having a little bit of knowledge about it going in definitely helped out a lot.”