It’s been a busy week for UCLA men’s basketball.
The Bruins opened their season in lackluster form Friday, falling 84-81 in overtime to the Monmouth Hawks. UCLA followed up that performance with a near-disaster against Cal Poly Sunday, where the team sacrificed a 15-point lead in the second half and barely outlasted the Mustangs.
As Steve Alford processed the preceding 72 hours at the podium Sunday night, the coach said he needed to talk with assistant coach Duane Broussard, who handles the program’s scheduling. While the Bruins’ opening opponents were both unranked, Alford was quick to stress their talent levels after both games and during the week that followed.
“We just don’t get a chance to breathe,” Alford said Tuesday. “I’m very respectful of who we played. I thought Monmouth in game one did a really good job in here. … I thought we played a really good scrappy Cal Poly team who could really shoot the basketball and we found a way to win.”
There’s no letup in sight as UCLA is slated to face Pepperdine Thursday night in Pauley Pavilion – a team ranked No. 88 in the nation by basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy, who also has the Bruins ranked No. 50.
The Waves enter Pauley Pavilion lying 1-1 on the season after a close loss to Fresno State and a blowout win over San Diego Christian. The Bruins are looking to stabilize a season after an unpredictable weekend.
“Guys were just mad, coming in and losing one of the first games kind of upset everyone,” said junior guard Isaac Hamilton. “We just got down to it and focused in, continued to play our game of basketball.”
UCLA has debuted a strong big-big lineup in both its matchups so far, as senior forward Tony Parker and sophomore center Thomas Welsh have combined for 69 points and 48 rebounds in the first 80 minutes of the season.
“It’s a little bit easier when you’ve got a big 7-footer,” Parker said. “They tend to pay a lot of attention to (Welsh), so I just sneak in there and take some of his rebounds.”
The flipside of that dynamic duo is the weakness it exposes on defense. The Waves feature a guard-heavy lineup, similar to the Hawks and Mustangs, which typically forces Parker to match up with a smaller, faster player on defense. While he can easily collect a rebound off a miss, it’s harder for the 6-foot-9, 260-pound senior to chase guards around the perimeter.
“It’s (Parker’s) first time really having to play big-big, and offensively it looks incredible. We’re a hard matchup, it’s been great on the backboard,” Alford said. “But we do have to learn defensively how we’re going to guard playing big-big.”
Contributing reports from Matthew Joye, Bruin sports senior staff.