With a 10-of-14 shooting performanceon Saturdayagainst Utah, Jordan Adams stole the show.
However, he didn’t need to worry about stealing the ball. That he’s been able to do successfully all season.
The sophomore guard picked four Ute pockets on Saturday, bringing his season total to 73. Adams has recorded at least two steals in 20 of 25 games this season and now finds himself just nine steals away from tying the UCLA single-season record set by Cameron Dollar in 1997.
Accomplishing the feat on Wednesday night at Cal will be unlikely – Adams’ single game high this season was eight against Sacramento State on Nov. 18 – but it is reasonable to anticipate Adams standing alone in the record books by the end of the regular season, possibly by the end of Saturday’s game at Stanford.
Coincidentally enough, anticipation – with a little bit of luck thrown in – is his exact reason for being in such prime position.
“I’m just in the right place at the right time,” Adams said Monday.
“That’s what I really can say about it, because I’m not the fastest guy, or whatever. I have great anticipation and I know where the ball’s going to be.”
On Saturday, he knew the ball was going to be at the bottom of the net. Though Adams said he has kept his confidence throughout a conference season that has been marred by inconsistent jump shooting, his most recent breakthrough should be something to hang onto as the Bruins embark on arguably their toughest road trip of the season.
It’s also a transformation teammates, including freshman guard Zach LaVine, who has failed to reach double figures in a game since Jan. 23, can take note of.
Adams shrugged his deep ball slump by moving around and being rewarded with open shots against Utah. On nights when those shots haven’t hit, Adams has contributed in other areas, like getting to the free-throw line, where he leads the Bruins in attempts this season, or crashing the boards.
“You’re going to see the same thing with Zach, because he’s too good, he’s too talented,” said coach Steve Alford. “He’s gone through … a tough stretch where that thing has not fallen, but he’s just got to continue to learn to do the other things, whether it’s knock some balls away defensively or get some rebounds.”
No. 23 UCLA (20-5, 9-3 Pac-12) currently sits alone in second place in the Pac-12 standings, but is closely followed by Cal (17-8, 8-4) and Stanford (16-8, 7-5), which rank third and sixth, respectively. UCLA will hope to rebound from a disappointing open to last year’s Bay Area trip, in which Cal delivered a 76-63 beatdown.
If memory doesn’t serve the Bruins well, then they may consider the more recent example of then-No. 1 Arizona surviving at Stanford three Wednesdays ago only to have its perfect record ruined by a Justin Cobbs last-second jumper three days later in Berkeley.
Regardless, UCLA appears to understand the importance of the coming road trip, particularly Wednesday night’s showdown at Haas Pavilion. The Bruins are ranked for the first time since a Jan. 18 loss to Utah and have a shot to close in on Pac-12 leader Arizona.
“We’re right where we want to be,” said junior guard Norman Powell. “Hopefully a lot more things will go our way in conference because everybody can beat everybody. We’re looking forward to completing the sweep on the road because we really need these road wins.”