SAN DIEGO — Tony Parker sat back in his locker Saturday, answering questions about could-be national darling Stephen F. Austin, UCLA’s opponent in Sunday’s NCAA tournament round of 32 game.
South regional No. 1 seed Florida had just defeated a sound Pittsburgh team in convincing fashion to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 in Memphis, Tenn. The Bruins watched NCAA tournament coverage on their locker room TV, but the sophomore forward/center said his team had finally learned.
“That can be an easy mistake to make,” Parker said of overlooking the Lumberjacks. “We’ve watched Florida, but we’re really focused on Stephen F. Austin.”
After looking past less-talented, size-mismatched opponents all season, Parker said UCLA would set its gaze on the present. A razor-sharp Gators team awaited, but the Bruins had a glass-slipper fitting to interrupt.
No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin (32-3) fought for 40 minutes to handle the length of No. 4 seed UCLA (28-8), but simply could not. The Lumberjacks cut the Bruins’ lead to just nine with 15:36 to play but failed to keep up with a UCLA offense that scored at will down the stretch. Sophomore guard Jordan Adams scored 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, leading UCLA to a 77-60 victory and its first Sweet 16 since 2008.
Where the Bruins were lacking in the rebounding contest – finishing six behind the Lumberjacks on the game – they made up for in ball security. Facing a team that makes a living using its quick hands to force opposing offenses into turnovers, UCLA committed just three.
“Here you’re in an NCAA game and we turn the ball over three times?” said coach Steve Alford. “Playing a team that denies everywhere, pressures everywhere, two different presses thrown at us that I know of, and two different zones … that’s a big key to what we do.”
The Bruins chose not to run into the Lumberjacks’ trap, but rather to run away from it.
UCLA had Stephen F. Austin backpedaling into transition all game long, often to the tune of easy, close-range baskets. The Bruins’ 42 points in the paint proved lethal for a Lumberjack team that preferred a controlled, calculated half-court game.
“We have guys that run like horses out in transition,” said sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. “It all starts with getting stops and we were able to get (guard Trey Pinkney) into foul trouble, so it was tougher for him to guard one of our three guards that would be out there.”
Five consecutive wins removed from an 18-point loss at Washington State, UCLA has completely transformed its image. The Sweet 16-bound Bruins have now committed to rebounding, defending and using their length to their advantage. On Sunday, few Stephen F. Austin shots went uncontested, and the Lumberjacks shot just 35.1 percent accordingly.
“I think Washington State was a wakeup call for us, honestly,” said redshirt senior forward Travis Wear, who added four points and five assists against Stephen F. Austin. “Coming off a loss like that, it’s hard to really think into the future just because you lose to one of the worst teams in your league, but I knew we had the talent in the locker room that if we would take that the right way, as we have, we’d be better for it.”
Now that future includes a Florida team that hasn’t lost since December and holds the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Whether a cruel joke from a selection committee that has witnessed three of the Bruins’ NCAA title runs since 2006 fall short at the jaws of the Gators or just a coincidence, Florida is the best team UCLA has faced all season.
“When we saw the pairing and we saw Florida in our half of the bracket, we said, ‘Oh, man, does everyone just want to see another UCLA-Florida matchup?” Wear said. “We’re looking forward to it. From what I’ve seen, they’re an awesome team.”
Awesome enough to dominate nearly a decade of UCLA’s recent tournament history.
“That’s some good history, but we’ve got 11 national championships, so that’s some good history, too,” Parker said.
The Bruins need to step it up and take it to Florida.