INDIANAPOLIS “”mdash; He’s the Bruins’ leading
scorer.
And their best defender.
But for nearly 30 minutes of UCLA’s 73-57 loss to Florida
in the NCAA Championship, Arron Afflalo was virtually
nonexistent.
And unlike in previous victories, no one was there to pick up
the slack.
Against the Gators, Afflalo couldn’t get it going
offensively, beaten several times on the defensive end. And as the
last excruciating seconds ticked off the clock, he couldn’t
help but feel that his performance was lacking.
“I’m still feeling the pain from it,” Afflalo
said. “You feel like you want to do a lot more. You feel like
you just didn’t do enough.
“You never know when this opportunity will come back
around, and you want to be at your best.
“I clearly wasn’t at my best over the
weekend.”
Afflalo followed up a nine-point performance against LSU on
Saturday with 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting in Monday’s
title game, and he didn’t score until he made two free throws
with 11:28 to play in the game.
A lot of the credit for that goes to Florida’s Corey
Brewer, a 6-foot-8, 185-pound sophomore who is widely considered to
be the Gators’ best defender.
“All due respect to him; he’s very good,”
Afflalo said.
“It just gives me a reason to get that much better, so I
can deal with players that have that ability.”
Unfortunately for the Bruins, Afflalo had been less-than-stellar
the entire tournament.
The Bruin’s leading scorer had battled through a number of
minor shooting slumps throughout the year, but he had rediscovered
his stroke heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Much to the chagrin of UCLA, Afflalo relapsed once the
tournament started and everything seemed compounded in the Final
Four.
In the team’s final three games, Afflalo didn’t
shoot above 30 percent. He was 2-for-9 against Memphis and 3-for-11
against LSU, but in those games, other players such as Luc Richard
Mbah a Moute stepped up and shouldered the load.
But no one stepped up Monday.
Mbah a Moute also laid a goose egg in the first half, finishing
the first 20 minutes 0-for-4 from the field. He didn’t score
until there was 10:10 to play in the game.
It was the first time in a long time that Mbah a Moute actually
looked like a freshman.
“I didn’t feel that nervous,” he said.
“I was fine. I just didn’t get it going in that
first half like I’m used to. But that happens. It’s
just one of those games.”
And it was one of those games for not only Mbah a Moute but
freshmen Darren Collison (zero points), Alfred Aboya (two points),
Mike Roll (zero points) and sophomore Lorenzo Mata (two
points).
When that happens UCLA needs its leaders to step up. And when
the Bruins needed Afflalo most, he simply wasn’t there.
“I have a responsibility to this team,” Afflalo
said. “My responsibility is to be the defender and lead us in
scoring, if capable. That’s what I’ve been doing all
year, and when I’m not doing my job, my team
suffers.”
Afflalo’s two worst performances of the season, a
four-point showing against West Virgina and a five-point output
against Washington, both resulted in Bruin losses.
And so it was again Monday, as a frustrated Afflalo simply
couldn’t get open looks and consequently, forced bad
shots.
“We didn’t get him the ball when he needed
it,” said point guard Jordan Farmar, who led UCLA with 18
points. “A few times he was open, and he was getting it a
split second later or not getting it at all. It really messes up
rhythm and messes up timing.
“I came in at halftime and said that we need to help him
out. He’s our leading scorer. He has to put the ball in the
basket.”
Afflalo’s first field goal of the game came on a 3-pointer
with 9:02 to go.
At that point it was a case of too little too late, as that
3-pointer only cut the deficit to 57-40.
After the matchup, Afflalo talked once again about maturity.
He’s said at times this season that he has lacked maturity in
certain phases of the game.
And still just a sophomore, he understands that there are a
number of learning experiences to be had.
“I’m not going to forget losing this game,”
Afflalo said. “Experiences like this are things that allow me
to work hard and get better.”