Five games.
That’s all that remains for UCLA men’s basketball to fix its problems, strengthen its weaknesses and make one final push to improve its seeding before the postseason begins.
Any room for error that existed earlier in the season has long since gone. The Bruins have to be as close to perfect as possible the rest of the way and they know it.
“Coach laid it out for us, tells us what we need to do, set our mission, our goal, talked about how every game is important for us,” said freshman forward Kevon Looney. “Can’t have no slip-ups, every game really matters for us, so we’re taking every game serious.”
In the situation UCLA is in – sitting right on the NCAA tournament bubble – it’s easy to look ahead at the big picture, even more so with a matchup against No. 7 Arizona looming Saturday. But as Looney said, the next game is always the most important.
That’s why senior guard Norman Powell said the Bruins are treating the remainder of their season like a playoff scenario, its first-round matchup coming Wednesday at Arizona State. Even with four more games following their meeting with the Sun Devils, the Bruins plan to play as if it’s a win-or-go-home situation.
“Coach is always talking about it’s great how our season’s the way it is right now because you get March Madness now,” Powell said. “All these games that we have are really a big factor for what we want to do in postseason play and setting us up for the Pac-12 tournament and seeding for the NCAA tournament.”
Working in the Bruins’ favor in this final stretch is that, in coach Steve Alford’s estimation, they are in the middle of perhaps their best three-week stretch of the season. UCLA is 5-1 in its past six games, with wins over No. 9 Utah and Stanford and its sole loss coming in the final minute at Cal.
The difference, Powell said, has been energy. The Bruins are working harder to get to the free-throw line, improving their ball movement and shot selection, buckling down on defense and hitting shots.
Despite the aggression, Alford said he and his coaching staff noticed when watching game film that one of UCLA’s glaring weaknesses was contesting shots. His solution, maintaining the postseason mindset the team was adopting, was to show his team film of playoff basketball.
The Bruins watched the desperation and reckless abandon with which defenders ran at shooters when a championship was on the line and listened as Alford told them to never assume a shooter was too far away to contest his shot.
While Oregon still managed to hit 11 3-pointers against UCLA Saturday, Alford said he’s seen improvement in his team’s effort when contesting shots. The Bruins will need to maintain their 3-point defense against the Sun Devils, who rank third in the Pac-12 in both 3-point percentage – 36.9 percent – and 3-pointers made.
Powell said he has no doubts UCLA will bring the energy to limit Arizona State’s shooting. After all, everything is at stake for the Bruins.
“I think, not only for me but the team as well, has really taken it upon themselves to pick up the level of play and play like every game is our last, like this is the last game you’re ever going to play basketball,” Powell said. “You can really see the urgency in the whole team and that’s what we need to have in this road trip.”