A week after a tight 75-67 win over Alabama, UCLA men’s basketball looked loose as it rolled over USC 107-73 on Sunday.
The Bruins were held to 47.5 percent shooting against the Crimson Tide and well below their 85.5 point average. They made up for it against the Trojans.
Led by its up-tempo offense, as it has been all year, UCLA trounced its crosstown rival by shooting 57.7 percent from the field. The Bruins’ offensive improvements from a year ago are significant; in 2012-2013, they averaged about 11 fewer points and shot about 7 percent worse. But aided by coach Steve Alford’s faster-paced and less-structured offense, UCLA is putting up more points this season and having fun doing it.
“We’re learning how to play together and play as a team and hit the open guy and make the extra pass and it’s just been a lot of fun so far,” said freshman guard Bryce Alford.
Steve Alford has also encouraged his players to read and react to defenses rather than solely running set plays.
“Coach always stresses to us, ‘Don’t be robots,’” said sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson. “He gives us the freedom to make plays and do what we gotta do.”
But within that free-flowing offensive system is a strict discipline. The Bruins are highly intent on sharing the ball and keeping it safe; they rank fifth in the nation in both assists and assists per turnover. The ability to put up big points and run while not turning the ball over has been key in the Bruins’ (12-2, 1-0 Pac-12) early season success and is an area they focus on each game.
“Our goal is 10 or fewer turnovers,” Alford said. “If we don’t turn the ball over more than 10 times, they’re not gonna catch us.”
Off the bench, into the bucket
UCLA’s bench put up 44 points against USC on Sunday, the unit’s second-highest point total of the season behind its 46-point performance against Northwestern. Led by freshman guards Bryce Alford and Zach LaVine, who scored 20 and 16 points, respectively, against the Trojans, the Bruin bench figures to play an important role as Pac-12 play continues.
“Zach and Bryce have been incredibly consistent all year … so I think that’s going to be really important as we move forward,” Alford said.
Alford has been particularly impressed at how much the two have contributed considering their youth and inexperience. The duo, who typically check into the game together after the first media timeout, provide a jolt of offensive energy to the Bruins when they enter.
“(Bryce) and Zach just complement each other really well,” Alford said. “The nice thing about Zach and Bryce in my opinion is they got very consistent through 14 games and that’s not easy to find in freshmen.”
That complementary relationship between the two players generally involves LaVine putting up points and Bryce Alford dishing out assists. But Sunday saw a bit of a role reversal as LaVine had four assists and Alford’s 20 points were a career-high. After a senior season in high school in which he averaged 37.7 points and 6.4 assists, Alford has looked comfortable in both roles this year.
“I think the thing that’s been impressive about Bryce is that he’s been a scorer and he sacrificed that to be a point guard and run the show,” Steve Alford said.
one should have a few concerns about the lack of scoring presence from the big men on this team. I think it was 89 of the 107 scored by guards in the win over SC.