UCLA’s Kyle Anderson continues to build on momentous season

Kyle Anderson is in the midst of a historic season for UCLA men’s basketball. The sophomore guard/forward, averaging 15.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, is on pace to be the first UCLA player since Bill Walton in 1974 to finish the year averaging at least 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Yet even with all his success, Anderson has had his share of setbacks lately. Turnover troubles have caught up to Anderson. In the past four games, Anderson has seen his assist-to-turnover ratio plummet from 2.01 to 1.25, with 25 assists to his 20 turnovers.

Coach Steve Alford said he wasn’t concerned by the recent trend, seeing the increase in turnovers as a result of late game aggressiveness.

“I’ve talked to him about it I think some of his turnovers come late in the game,” Alford said. “He really wants – you gotta give him credit – he wants you to foul him, he wants to have the ball, but he holds it just a little bit too long and that’s really where most of his turnovers are coming.”

But despite the lack of ball security as of late, Alford said he doesn’t want Anderson changing his approach.

“I think he stops attacking, stops moving the ball and running the show, and we’ve talked about that,” Alford said. “But he definitely won’t have the ball any less. If anything down the stretch here, he’s gonna have it more.”

One potential cause of the turnovers is actually one of Anderson’s best traits – his height. At 6-foot-9, Anderson can see passing lanes over defenders, but his size also means there’s a greater distance between his hand and the ground when he dribbles, giving defenders more time to swipe the ball.

However, Adams and Alford both said they don’t see Anderson’s handling as an issue. Anderson, meanwhile, said he’s just trying to improve his focus, which will in turn improve his turnovers.

While the turnovers have begun to pile up for UCLA lately – the Bruins have had more turnovers than assists in two of their last three games – particularly for Anderson, Alford still is focused on the positives his point guard brings to the table.

“He’s having a terrific season. He had a couple question marks coming into the season and he’s done nothing but just prove all those question marks wrong,” Alford said. “His shooting ability, he’s shooting 50 percent from three. He’s just a really difficult matchup and he’s been a huge key, a huge catalyst for us.”

Compiled by Kevin Bowman, Bruin Sports senior staff.