As the clock in Haas Pavilion wound down on UCLA men’s basketball’s 86-66 win over Cal on Wednesday, things were just starting to pick up in Salt Lake City. Utah and conference-leader Arizona were heading into overtime.
While the Wildcats escaped with a win, the team that once looked unreachable no longer seems that far off from the Bruins, as UCLA currently sits in second place, just one game behind Arizona.
With five games left in the regular season schedule, UCLA’s goal is simple – catch Arizona – and its path to achieving that continues Saturday at Stanford (16-8, 7-5 Pac-12).
But while the Bruins (21-5, 10-3) don’t face the Wildcats again and will be forced to rely on some outside help to hand Arizona the extra loss required for No. 23 UCLA to catch up, redshirt senior forward Travis Wear is confident that Arizona, which once looked primed for an undefeated season before losing starting forward Brandon Ashley to an injury, is catchable.
“I think that’s where our eyes are and that’s what our goal is – to get this league championship,” Wear said. “We’re gonna try to win every game from here on out and see what happens again.”
Their destiny may no longer be in their hands, but the Bruins have certainly done their part recently, playing at a much higher level during their current four-game winning streak.
That uptick in play reached its crest Wednesday night, when the Bruins put together what coach Steve Alford described as his team’s best game of the season against the Golden Bears. UCLA was dominant on offense and defense, shooting 56.9 percent from the field while holding Cal to just 43.6 percent and preventing any of the Golden Bears’ starters from reaching double digits in scoring.
The strong team play was fueled by improved individual performances. Sophomore guard Jordan Adams’ 28 points showed he’s all the way back to his normal self after being mired in a bit of a slump in recent weeks. Wear, who struggled early in the season after having appendicitis, has looked like his old self lately as well; in his past three games, Wear has made 15 of his 19 shot attempts.
And as they enter the home stretch, the Bruins are getting hot at just the right time.
“We’ve been playing some good basketball as of late and this is the perfect time to be doing it,” Wear said. “I think we’re really dangerous heading into the late season and postseason.”
Regardless of whether UCLA is able to dethrone Arizona and win the Pac-12 regular season title, Alford said his team’s strong play this month is important for another reason.
“How you play in February, in my mind, kind of sets up what you’re trying to do in March. You’re trying to set yourself up well for the conference tournament and if you play well in February, you gotta couple games in March that set up a conference race,” Alford said. “There’s five games left. We’re in that conference race. We’re in the talk.”
The Bruins know making a run at first place this late in the season is an uphill battle, but they have some past experience they can fall back on.
“We were in the same kind of predicament last year, so we know it’ll play its way out,” Adams said. “We just have to go out there and get wins.”