Amid the speculation over UCLA’s NCAA tournament fate, what’s somewhat lost is the fact that the Bruins still have a regular-season game left to play.
It comes to an end Wednesday, though the speculation likely won’t.
UCLA’s up-and-down regular season concludes as crosstown rival USC (11-18, 3-14) visits Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins (18-12, 10-7 Pac-12) enter their final contest with an undefeated conference home record, and another win secures the No. 4 seed and an all-important first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.
A bye gives UCLA eight days between its regular season finale against USC and its first conference tournament game – a crucial benefit for a team that has four starters logging more than 30 minutes per contest.
“Our guys know there’s a lot riding on this but (we’ve) got to relax and enjoy it, too,” said coach Steve Alford. “You can’t feel all that and put it all on your shoulders. We want to make sure we want to be playing who we are in the game.”
Against a USC squad capable of playing an efficient, up-tempo style, Alford’s primary concern might be his players’ legs more than anything else, especially after the team struggled in transition against Washington and Washington State this past week.
Fortunately for UCLA, the team has a player capable of running the court as well as anyone in the conference – senior guard Norman Powell, who garnered conference Player of the Week honors after notching a combined 52 points against the Huskies and Cougars.
Wednesday night possibly marks Powell’s final contest in Pauley, though there’s a chance the Bruins could host a game in the arena if they were to make the National Invitational Tournament. Of course, Powell and company would prefer the NCAA tourney – which a loss to USC would all but preclude UCLA from.
With so much riding on Wednesday’s contest, the Bruins’ lone starting senior certainly isn’t short on motivation against the last-place Trojans.
“I’m just glad that I’ve been able to play here and wear the four letters across my chest; it means the world to me,” Powell said. “To be able to be the reason (the Trojans) finish last in the conference, it’s going to be really big for us to do that and pull out the win. I’m really excited the way it’s coming down.”
For a final chance to boost its tournament odds in the regular season, UCLA will likely have to continue attacking down low against a USC frontcourt headlined by sophomore forward Nikola Jovanovic – who notched 20 points in the Bruins’ 83-66 victory over the Trojans in January.
That will likely mean UCLA will need more standout performances from Powell and junior forward/center Tony Parker – who Alford called the “key” to the Bruins’ offense. Parker topped double digits in points in the Bruins’ two wins last week, hauling in 15 combined rebounds as UCLA totaled 88 combined points in the paint against the Washington schools.
An effort close to that will likely mean a first-round bye for the Bruins, a fourth-place finish in the conference and a fifth-straight victory over the Trojans. All in all, not a bad send-off for UCLA’s leading scorer. But Parker does have an alternative.
“It’s Norman’s last game, but it’s going to be hard to do anything special (for him) because he’s so old, he’s an old guy,” Parker said in jest. “Norman does have a bedtime, his mom calls, checks on him. After the game we’ll probably do something the next morning for him like a brunch or a breakfast. He likes oatmeal. We’ll probably just have a little brunch for him.”