There are two minutes on the clock during practice. One team is up by two points and tries to hold on to the lead while the other team tries to steal that lead with “hard-nosed, gritty play,” according to Alec Zwaneveld.
The redshirt freshman center said that these are the situations the UCLA men’s water polo team has been simulating in practice to address an issue it faced against No. 2 USC, No. 8 Long Beach State and No. 7 Pepperdine earlier in the season: the issue of letting its guard down just enough to give teams a chance to come back.
“We’ve recognized that it is an issue and it’s something that we continue to address in the training,” said coach Adam Wright.
UCLA will travel to Malibu, Calif., Saturday to compete against Pepperdine, before coming home on Sunday to host No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.
For the Bruins, the aim this weekend will be to stay focused throughout the entire game in order to prepare for the upcoming postseason play.
“We have struggled with going up and not keeping our focus mentally,” said redshirt freshman goalkeeper Garrett Danner. “I think now that we have been working on that a bit more, it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Wright acknowledged the team’s strength, speed and versatility but continues to stress the importance of playing through to the end of the game.
Despite this, the team is not going into this weekend expecting to recreate last week’s situation in which it had a 3-0 lead going into the second quarter and allowed its opponent to catch up, but will focus on playing in the moment, Wright said.
The team is taking a different approach for each game, as the two teams it will face this weekend play very different styles.
According to Wright, Pepperdine is a very dynamic and fast-moving team.
“They’re driving and moving all over the place, so we’ve been concentrating on how to defend the drive and post-ups with them,” Wright said.
However, UCSB plays more of a straightforward game, focusing on finding clean shots and taking them.
“Santa Barbara has good 2-meter men, but also good shooters on both sides,” Wright said.
But as the season nears its end, the team is using every minute as preparation for the postseason. This weekend should provide a great opportunity to see how hard the Bruins can play.
“We’re going to have our hands full with both teams (this weekend),” Wright said.