UCLA men’s basketball gives itself a lot of chances for success. The program recruits well, develops its players, competes against elite talent successfully – but then throws it away. Literally.
Turnovers are proving to be the Bruins’ Achilles’ heel this season and could be the key to its big conference matchup with No. 7 Arizona Thursday. In the majority of its six losses this season, UCLA has been its own worst enemy by squandering scoring chances.
Against Washington Jan. 1, the Bruins forfeited their possession a total of 25 times for 21 Husky points.
“We turned it over too much – that was the negative in the Washington game,” said coach Steve Alford. “But the effort and the energy was really good.”
This has become a trend for UCLA in high-pressure games, like the Bruins’ conference season-opener. In one of its highest profile games of the nonconference season, UCLA had 17 turnovers against North Carolina Dec. 19, allowing the Tar Heels to pick up 24 points. Similarly, the Bruins allowed 15 points off turnovers against the Kansas Jayhawks Nov. 24. There was also, of course, the infamous Monmouth game on Nov. 13, where UCLA committed 23 turnovers and handed the Hawks 23 points.
It was looking like the Bruins had found a way to leave the turnover troubles behind them in upset wins against top-20 teams Kentucky and Gonzaga. But on its first road trip of Pac-12 play, UCLA was back to its old tricks.
“I think this (Washington) trip we took a step back as far as poise goes,” said junior guard Bryce Alford. ”You have to concentrate for 40 minutes (and) we didn’t do that on this road trip.”
The Bruins have talked a lot about becoming a quicker-paced offense, particularly with freshman guard Aaron Holiday, who likes to run, taking up point guard. With that faster tempo naturally comes more mistakes, but double-digit turnovers are anathema to any program regardless of offensive scheme.
“Transition has been one of the main issues but I think once we get that down and guys start to see the importance of each game, we’ll keep the ball rolling,” said junior guard Isaac Hamilton.
With one of the most daunting Pac-12 opponents coming to town Thursday, UCLA will need to apply the lessons learned on its road trip and during the nonconference schedule if it wants to keep hopes of winning the league alive.