Notice served.
For the past few months opposing teams have attempted to disrupt the UCLA men’s basketball team’s offense by playing a variety of zone defenses, something which gave the Bruins trouble last season.
Yet with the way the Bruins have been shooting the ball recently, teams might want to adjust their strategy.
The Arizona Wildcats (11-6, 2-3 Pac-10) were the latest victims, as the No. 9 Bruins (14-2, 4-0) won easily 83-60 on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion due to the team’s continued hot shooting.
Facing a 2-3 zone for the majority of the game the Bruins were unfazed, shooting 59.6 percent (28-of-57) on the night, including 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from 3-point territory.
According to senior point guard Darren Collison, the Bruins had better be used to playing against zone.
“We’ve been playing zones for the last three months so we better be good at it right now,” Collison said. “Everybody’s coming into their own, shooting the ball real well. We’re starting to drive the gaps a little bit more, be a little more aggressive. Teams want to continue to play zone against us; that’s perfectly fine but we’re starting to get it.”
Collison was one of five Bruin players to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points on 2-of-5 shooting from the floor. Junior forward Nikola Dragovic, starting his second consecutive game, led the Bruins with a career-high 15 points. Senior forward Josh Shipp had 13 points, while senior forward Alfred Aboya and redshirt junior guard Michael Roll added 12 points each.
Part of the Bruins’ success against the Wildcats’ zone came from the players making the extra pass. Twenty of the Bruins’ 28 made field goals came off assists.
“Making the extra pass always leads to more open shot,” Roll said. “A lot of times someone has a couple feet of room and that extra pass gives them tons of room. We’re all pretty good shooters out here, and we’re going to knock it when we’re open.”
Shipp added that there are no selfish players on the team, making for a better team environment.
“We’re just having fun out there,” Shipp said. “We’re all unselfish, we don’t care who gets the basket and it shows. All the guys that get in double figures and it’s fun to be a part of.”
Arizona was paced offensively by forwards Jordan Hill (22 points) and Chase Budinger (14 points), yet did not receive much production from anyone else. Without a balanced attack on offense, the Wildcats were unable to keep pace.
The game was close in the first half as the Wildcats came within six points on a jumpshot by guard Nic Wise to make the score 26-20 with 8:43 left in the half.
That was the closest the Wildcats would get for the rest of the game as the Bruins went on a 12-4 run over the next five minutes to move ahead 38-22, effectively ending the game.
“We have a team where anybody could go off on a given night and get 20-plus points,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “When you have that kind of balance, I think it really is hard to defend a team, as opposed to having just two guys really score.”
After opening the Pac-10 schedule with three wins on the road, the Bruins were happy to return home and register a win in the first game at Pauley Pavilion.
“It’s huge to keep our homecourt,” Roll said. “That’s definitely one of our goals this year and this is one-for-one.”
Following the game, after his team shot close to 60 percent from the field against a talented Arizona zone defense, Shipp admitted that whichever way teams try to defend the Bruins, they will be ready.
“We’re going to attack whatever they throw at us,” Shipp said. “We do a good job preparing for both zone and man and it shows. We win ball games and that’s all that matters to us.”