Tuesday, UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland wanted to
explain something.
What do the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks have in
common?
How about the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs?
For Howland, the answer goes below the surface. He understands
that these teams are successful, but he prefers to focus on the
root of their success.
“In any sport, to be a consistent winner, you have to play
great defense,” Howland said.
“That’s the thing you can control more than any
other aspect. It’s your effort and your intensity
defensively.”
That’s become the party line for the No. 14 Bruins (17-4,
7-2 Pac-10), and so far it has served them quite well.
At the midpoint of the conference season, the first-place
Bruins, who host conference doormat Arizona State tonight (7-11,
1-8), have made a name for themselves on the defensive end of the
floor.
“We make other teams struggle for every shot, and we know
it frustrates them,” sophomore guard Arron Afflalo said.
“Our thing this year is to not let other teams get on
runs. And they haven’t.”
This season, when the team has been in a state of flux with
regard to a number of aspects, defensive intensity has remained a
relative constant.
UCLA is second in the conference in scoring defense, allowing
just 60.2 points per game.
Since a 39-point first-half outburst by West Virginia on Jan.
21, the Bruins haven’t allowed more than 30 points in a
half.
Over the course of the season, UCLA has held its opponent to
less than 20 points in a half on six different occasions.
According to senior guard Cedric Bozeman, who returned from a
shoulder injury to contribute solid minutes against both Oregon and
Oregon State last weekend, this is the best defensive team
he’s ever played on.
“Everybody is a unit,” Bozeman said.
“Everybody is working together. When somebody is beat,
somebody is there to help.”
Ever since Howland arrived in Westwood three years ago, that
defensive mindset has been instilled in every one of his
players.
“It was tough, but it was set in our mind,” Bozeman
said.
“The following year it built up. Then this year,
we’re starting to become that defensive unit. Defense wins
championships. We’re doing it as a team.”
Behind their defense, the Bruins are back where they want to be,
atop the conference standings.
But with both Stanford and Arizona just one game back, everyone
realizes that it’s no time to rest on their laurels.
“It’s definitely too early,” senior center
Ryan Hollins said.
“We can’t even think about being in first place,
because you saw that Washington went up and lost two games last
weekend. That could easily happen to us. You’ve got to take
it one game at a time and worry about ASU, and then after that
worry about Arizona.”
Though Arizona State is a staggering 1-8 in conference play, the
Bruins refuse to take them lightly.
“This is a very dangerous team, and a team that will
definitely have our full attention,” Howland said.
“We crushed them by one at the buzzer (last time), so
it’s not like we can just come in and say that we’ve
got it made.”
In the last meeting between the teams, sophomore point guard
Jordan Farmar had to conjure up some late-game magic to lead the
Bruins to victory.
After Arizona State forward Bryson Krueger had made a 3-pointer
to put the Sun Devils up by one with 14 seconds remaining, Farmar
drove the length of the floor and laid the ball up to seal the
61-60 win.
“You’ve got to bring it every night,” said
Hollins, who didn’t play in the first meeting between the
teams.
“You can’t concede any game and just assume that
you’re going to win it.”