Since the start of the Steve Alford era last year, UCLA men’s basketball has struggled mightily in weekend Pac-12 road games. In fact, the Bruins still have not swept a Pac-12 weekend road series under coach Steve Alford. Now that UCLA’s road schedule for the 2014-2015 season is wrapped up, Daily Bruin Sports takes a look back at how UCLA’s Pac-12 road woes under Alford transpired.
2013-2014
Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014: UCLA 69 – Colorado 56
Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014: Utah 74 – UCLA 69
It all started in Salt Lake City over a year ago. Two days after a convincing 69-56 win at Colorado began the team’s first conference road trip of the season on a high note, the road revelry came to an abrupt halt in a game that then-freshman guard Zach LaVine said left the Bruins “dazed for almost the whole game.”
Aside from then-sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson leading the way with a then-career high of 28 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists, the rest of the UCLA team couldn’t bring its energy to the back end of the road trip at Utah. It was the first conference road loss of coach Steve Alford’s young tenure as the UCLA coach, and the first weekend road loss in conference play. But it would not be the last; in fact, the trend would repeat over and over again for the entirety of his first two seasons in Westwood.
Compiled by Derrek Li, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014: UCLA 70 – Oregon 68
Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014: Oregon State 71 – UCLA 67
Super Bowl Sunday 2014 in Corvallis, Ore., wasn’t so super for UCLA. A then-redshirt senior forward Travis Wear put-back with 5.3 seconds to go three days earlier had lifted UCLA 70-68 over a strong Oregon squad. The Bruins then took their momentum and red-hot then-sophomore guard Jordan Adams into a Sunday matchup with the Oregon State Beavers, where they fell completely flat.
Then-freshman guard Zach LaVine and Adams combined for a 1-for-16 effort, while the Beavers’ Eric Moreland pummeled the Bruins in the paint, notching 14 points and 11 rebounds in a 71-67 dud for UCLA. After the game, Wear told reporters Oregon State had played harder than UCLA. Then-sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson said he wasn’t sure why UCLA had lost. But it was what coach Steve Alford said – specifically in a 10-minute tirade to his team which was clearly audible to reporters in Gill Coliseum’s media room – that capped off the Bruins’ dismal performance with an exclamation point. It also worked. The Bruins left Corvallis and ripped off four straight wins to stay atop the Pac-12 standings.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014: No. 23 UCLA 86 – Cal 66
Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014: Stanford 83 – No. 23 UCLA 74
Last February, the Bruins traveled to Berkeley for one of their most impressive wins of the 2013-2014 season. Behind 28 points from then-sophomore guard Jordan Adams, UCLA took a 12-point halftime lead and never looked back, holding all five Cal starters to eight points or fewer. A trip over to Maples Pavilion, however, wiped that momentum as well as UCLA’s No. 23 ranking.
Led by Chasson Randle, Stanford shot 73.7 percent from the field after the second half. A double alley-oop from Randle to Anthony Brown to Dwight Powell with 16:06 to play set the tone for the second half, in which the Bruins made a few runs but were never able to catch an in-control Cardinal team. The loss at Stanford set up the Bruins’ only stretch of back-to-back losses during the 2013-2014 season, as a Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson-less UCLA team lost at home to Oregon just five days later.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Thursday, March 6, 2014: UCLA 91 – Washington 82
Saturday, March 8, 2014: Washington State 73 – UCLA 55
UCLA began its 2014 road trip to the state of Washington by defeating University of Washington in Seattle for just the second time since 2004. That was supposed to be the hard part.
As it turns out, it was far more difficult for the Bruins to defeat the Pac-12’s worst team – the Washington State Cougars – on their home court.
UCLA went frigid in its Saturday night game at Friel Court in Pullman, Wash., shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from beyond the arc. The Bruins’ last road game of 2013-2014 turned out to be their worst, as they were routed by 18 points in a game that wasn’t close over the final 16 minutes.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff.
2014-2015
Friday, Jan. 2, 2015: Colorado 62 – UCLA 56
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015: No. 10 Utah 71 – UCLA 39
The Bruins’ momentum going into Pac-12 play was essentially nonexistent.
UCLA’s loss at home to No. 3 Gonzaga was followed by a crushing 39-point defeat at the hands of No. 1 Kentucky. UCLA’s slew of losses would continue after a seven-and-a half minute shooting drought resulted in a 56-50 road loss to Alabama.
The start of conference play would only add to those losses, starting with UCLA’s 62-56 loss to Colorado at the Coors Events Center on Friday. The Bruins’ weekend woes would worsen come Sunday in Salt Lake City. The team, that according to coach Steve Alford was “offensively challenged,” shot below 30 percent from the field en route to a 71-39 embarrassment at the hands of then-No. 10 Utah.
UCLA would live up to its Jekyll-and-Hyde reputation by avenging the defeats by Colorado and Utah with double-digit wins later in the season when it was the Bruins’ time to play host.
Compiled by Aubrey Yeo, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015: Oregon State 66 – UCLA 55
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015: Oregon 82 – UCLA 64
In a state which carries the slogan, “We Love Dreamers,” UCLA was met with a couple of nightmare performances. In a Thursday night loss to Oregon State, UCLA turned in an abysmal offensive performance, going 19-62 from the field and 6-25 from beyond the arc. Then on Sunday, the Bruins transferred their futility to the defensive end in a game against the Oregon Ducks. UCLA allowed Oregon to shoot a blazing 62.3 percent from the field, and 9-13 from beyond the arc en route to an 18-point drubbing.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015: UCLA 69 – Stanford 67
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015: Cal 64 – UCLA 62
Just like the Washington road series a year earlier, it seemed like UCLA had already conquered the hard part of its road trip.
In the Thursday game, UCLA managed to squelch a Stanford comeback and beat the home team 69-67. There wouldn’t be another rehashing of the double-overtime thriller between the Bruins and the Cardinal from earlier this season.
All that was left on UCLA’s agenda was a game against Cal, a team the Bruins managed to handily beat when the Bears visited Pauley Pavilion in early January. The only caveat was that this game would be contested in Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, and that seemed like all Cal needed to reverse that 19-point defeat.
It was like déjà vu for UCLA. For the second time on their road trip to NorCal, the Bruins were once again unable to close out a game after an early lead – only this time they found themselves on the wrong end of a missed buzzer-beater attempt.
Compiled by Aubrey Yeo, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015: Arizona State 68 – UCLA 66
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015: No. 7 Arizona 57 – UCLA 47
After blowing a four-point halftime lead to Arizona State and losing the game by two, UCLA had one last chance to make up for a less-than-stellar conference road record in 2014-2015. Going back to the beginning of coach Steve Alford’s tenure, the Bruins haven’t won the second game of a two-game road series in seven tries. The opportunity to end the streak on the last conference road trip of Alford’s second season came with bigger stakes. A signature win over No. 7 Arizona would mean moving the needle ever so slightly in favor of UCLA’s quest to make the 2015 NCAA tournament. But Arizona was waiting with its own record on the line – an undefeated home season, and a 37-game home winning streak. The Bruins battled the Wildcats through the entire game, but just didn’t have enough to secure a win. With the loss, UCLA’s chances at making the NCAA tournament became a bit slimmer, and the Bruins will have to wait until next season for another shot at ending their weekend conference road woes.
Compiled by Derrek Li, Bruin Sports senior staff.