To put it kindly, UCLA men’s basketball hasn’t been great this year.
Be it the seven-point first half against Kentucky, the blowout loss to Utah or this past week’s back-to-back losses to Oregon State and Oregon, UCLA has struggled to create positive headlines, particularly for these columns.
As for their struggles on the court, it’s difficult to pinpoint one general area that is the source for most of the Bruins’ woes this season.
Sometimes their consistently questionable shot selection is the issue as sophomore guards Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton continue to hoist threes and trade shooting slumps – if 5-39 and 2-24 shooting respectively can be described as slumps and not recessions.
Other times, UCLA’s lack of depth seems like the main culprit for its failed season, as coach Steve Alford alluded to following the loss to Oregon Saturday. The Bruins have very limited lineup flexibility and any foul trouble is essentially a death sentence to their hopes of winning that game.
Then there’s the lack of a true point guard, the youth and inexperience, poor 3-point defense, slow starts to games, struggles against a zone defense, the poor ball movement, the standing around on offense – you name it.
After concluding a trip to Oregon that featured two losses and each of these problems, senior guard Norman Powell had a simpler diagnosis – one all-encompassing issue the Bruins need to fix immediately.
“Honestly, it’s just not competing,” Powell said. “You gotta show some energy, some heart, some toughness, get in their face, pressure them, whatever it takes. … It’s just hitting the switch to get everybody on the same page and fighting just as hard as me and Bryce – the leaders – are.”
UCLA has not shown that intensity on a consistent basis this year and it’s a clear explanation for why its season has been so mediocre, sitting at 11-9 after 20 games.
After 20 games, it’s also unacceptable.
The Bruins need to take some pride in their play and, as Powell said, compete. That pride was lacking Saturday, as UCLA continually left Oregon players wide open on 3-point shots. After Oregon drained three jump shots in a row without even a hint of a UCLA close out to start the second half, the Bruins’ lack of defensive effort almost seemed deliberate.
Yet there’s no chance the Bruins’ halftime adjustments were to give the Ducks even more room to shoot after Oregon hit 75 percent of their first half shots.
There just wasn’t the urgency to give 100 percent for 100 percent of the game. UCLA has played well in spurts this year, such as its comebacks against Stanford and nearly against Oregon State, but the Bruins shouldn’t still be dealing with the stretches of apparent apathy.
On Dec. 7, coach Steve Alford said he questioned his team’s toughness after trailing San Diego 35-33 at halftime. A month and a half later, following UCLA’s loss to Oregon State, Alford did so again, calling his team “soft” in the first half.
The lack of toughness, energy, hustle, passion, fight – whatever you want to call it – should not still be an issue this team is trying to solve, especially for a team that needs to outwork its opponents each game given UCLA’s youth and lack of depth.
Give credit to Powell, who said he is still thinking of new ways to motivate his younger teammates to play at full energy for a full game, but two-and-a-half months into the season for a team that will need all the help it can get to even be considered for an NCAA Tournament berth, getting fired up should not be a problem. Is the fact that this team is on track to finish with the worst UCLA record in six years not motivation enough?