MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Bruins had been hearing it all week.
Since the final buzzer of UCLA’s win over Stephen F. Austin on Sunday, the questions about Florida were endless. How will the Bruins deal with the press? Can they score on Florida’s defense? Will they be able to battle with the Gators’ bigs?
But ultimately, UCLA’s season came down to a different question: What if?
UCLA found a way to hang with No. 1 seed Florida throughout the game, coming as close as one point with 10 minutes left, but an inability to do what it has done best all season – make shots – brought UCLA’s season to an end with a 79-68 loss in the Sweet 16.
The Bruins’ season-low percentage from beyond the arc – they made just three of their 18 three-point attempts – cut short a potential return to the Elite Eight.
“It just came down to making shots,” said junior guard Norman Powell. “That’s what it came down to and we weren’t able to make shots today.”
Things didn’t always get better as the shots moved closer. Sophomore guard Jordan Adams twice missed nearly everything, curling off screens and launching midrange jumpers that missed to the side by nearly a foot each, bouncing harmlessly off the backboard.
While Florida boasts the nation’s third stingiest defense, several Bruins contended after the game that it was their own issues, not the Gator defense, that was the problem.
“I don’t think their pressure really affected us that much,” said redshirt senior forward Travis Wear. “We just really couldn’t hit shots that we normally make. There’s a lot of open shots that we would normally make, we just weren’t hitting those tonight.”
Furthering the damage of the missed shots was UCLA’s inability to get a do-over. The Bruins struggled to contend for rebounds with a physical Gator frontline and didn’t register an offensive rebound until the 2:02 mark in the first half, resulting in zero second chance points in the first half for UCLA. Florida bested UCLA on the offensive glass seven to one in the first period, a statistic that the Bruins found disheartening.
“Yeah, you know, it is,” Wear said. “And that was one of our key points before the game was to limit them to one shot and unfortunately we gave up seven offensive rebounds in the first half. It’s gonna be tough to win a game when that happens.”
Sophomore forward/center Tony Parker shouldered the blame for the rebound disparity. Parker picked up two first-half fouls in just 70 seconds before being forced to return to the bench for the remainder of the half.
“My fouls let my team down. We didn’t have an inside presence in the first half and we got down on the boards by seven,” Parker said. “We ended up losing the board count by 10 and that doesn’t happen if I play and help my teammates out, so I gotta find ways to stay on the court.”
Parker found a way in the second half, logging nine minutes and helping the Bruins battle back on the boards with three rebounds. UCLA showed improvement, pulling down seven offense rebounds in the final 20 minutes, but failed to make the most of it.
The Bruins’ second-half shooting just grew colder, as their field goal percentage dropped to 41 percent on the half and their three-point percentage to 8.3 percent.
Compounding the issue were UCLA’s struggles with defending the three-point line. Usually known for their strong play down low, the Gators used the three-pointer to pull away from the Bruins in the first half and to stay ahead in the second, as sophomore guard Michael Frazier II drained five of eight from beyond arc. Florida finished eight of 21 from behind the arc.
“Every time we cut it six or five or four … they were able to hit a three or make a tough shot,” Powell said. “They were hitting shots and we weren’t.”
The Bruins’ one constant all season, their safety blanket to fall back on, was their shooting. On Thursday, it proved to be their downfall.
Shooting & Defense cost us the game?
Well, what else is there left? The key players who were supposed to defend & rebound (Zac and Kyle on defense) did not jump high enough to catch the ball and the 2 key players who were supposed to shoot the lights out with their 3 pointers (Kyle & Zac on offense) did not make the shots…… Well, I will be a little bit nicer and say they were on the court but did not do what they were supposed to do.