Steve Alford knew what he was up against.
The UCLA men’s basketball coach spoke Tuesday about the strength of Arizona’s defense in anticipation of the tough opposition the team would face Thursday.
The Wildcats lived up to their billing.
Arizona (16-0, 3-0 Pac-12) played smothering defense against UCLA’s offense, the second-highest scoring unit in the Pac-12, and fended off a late UCLA run to win 79-75.
The Bruins (12-3, 1-1), who came into the game shooting 52.7 percent on the season, were held to just 40 percent shooting in the game. UCLA’s two leading scorers, guard Jordan Adams and guard/forward Kyle Anderson, both sophomores, were held to a combined 10-of-30 shooting.
“They’re No. 1 in the country for a lot of reasons. They’re good,” Alford said. “That’s without question the best team we’ve played this year. They’re really good defensively.”
But while UCLA’s offense struggled to string points together and find open looks, Alford wasn’t upset with his players, crediting them for their effort while emphasizing the play of their opponents.
“I told the guys, ‘There’s going to be games where you don’t shoot the ball well. That doesn’t bother me, it’s the effort that would bother me,’” Alford said. “I take my hat off to our guys. … I thought our guys gave great effort, so I don’t have anything to complain about that.”
But in the eyes of Anderson, there’s no such thing as a moral victory. Despite their coach’s praise of their effort, Anderson and his teammates said they thought they could have found a way to play harder and cap their 13-point comeback with a win.
“We’re not taking it as being encouraged that we lost,” Anderson said. “We’re still upset, we still gotta find a way to dig deeper and get a win.”
Alford, however, did find some reason for encouragement in the team’s performance on the boards. Facing a Wildcats team that ranks first in the Pac-12 in rebounding margin, out-rebounding their opponents by an average of 12.1 per game, the Bruins’ effort shined on the glass. UCLA’s 36 rebounds were just one shy of Arizona’s total, and Alford was also pleased with the team’s 16 offensive rebounds, which surpassed Arizona’s total by five.
But after the Bruins led the rebounding battle at halftime, sophomore forward/center Tony Parker was frustrated in his second-half performance on the boards. Parker had seven rebounds at halftime, but only added one more to the tally after the half.
“You gotta put two halves together. The second half, I didn’t get as many boards as I needed to,” Parker said. “… I just have to keep competing and try to put 40 minutes together. Playing hard all the time and playing hard every second I’m on the court and I think as a team we did better tonight, but we have to be better to win games.”
The Bruins are looking to implement these changes, as well as continuing to improve defensively, as they move forward and will have a chance to do so against another tough opponent in Arizona State on Sunday.
“Every game becomes big. Arizona State is huge,” Alford said. “ … This is a very demanding league, so we’ve got to get confidence with another win before we go out on the road, and that’s why all the attention will be on Arizona State.”
The Bruins played with a lot of effort but they just don’t have the defensive minded players they need to win the games against the bigger teams. Beating Monterey Bay Aquarium Tech Institute and other horrible teams doesn’t count. The Wear twins would better serve this team coming off the bench and just concentrating on getting a nice open 7 footer for a shot. The two of them combined for a total of 3 rebounds last night…3 rebounds!!!!! Corey Alford could grab 3 rebounds in a game. Defense, rebounding and a somewhat recognizable half court offense would help this team….otherwise a strong effort last night. Go Bruins!!