With around 12 minutes to go in the first half of UCLA men’s basketball’s win over Cal Sunday, sophomore forward/center Tony Parker checked into the game looking to build off his career performance in the previous game.
One minute later, he was back on the bench, a towel draped over his head, with two fouls and two turnovers.
After a career-high 22 points on Thursday against Stanford, Parker was limited to just seven minutes of play Sunday and had nothing positive to show for it. He finished with four fouls and zero points.
“He had been playing really well,” said coach Steve Alford. “I just thought, whether he wasn’t ready or didn’t understand the level of play, as you do well, you gotta continue to do well at a high level because everybody in that other locker room is preparing for you differently after you proved you can do some things.”
Parker’s sophomore year has been a bit of a mixed bag. He’s had several games that appeared to be breakthrough performances where he looked to have things figured out, like his 21 points against Oakland, his 16 points against Alabama and his 22 against Stanford.
But inconsistency and foul trouble have held him back from building momentum from those games. In the games immediately following each of those three, Parker scored a combined 15 points.
“He’s really going through his freshman year because he didn’t get a lot of playing time last year and so he’s going through it for the first time,” Alford said. “I told him, ‘Maybe it was me.’ I did a poor job of getting him ready for this game because when you do the things he did the last game, you become locker room material, you become a heavier part of the scout that Cal had and it’s a maturity process and for young players. It takes some time.”
In Parker’s actual freshman season, he averaged just 2.4 points and 6.3 minutes in his 33 appearances.
Back on track
While Parker lacked consistency against Cal, Bryce Alford finally found some.
The freshman guard, after scoring eight points on a combined two of 17 shooting in the last three games, got his groove back on Sunday, finishing with 13 points, including 11 in the second half. As UCLA’s offense began to flat line and Cal crept closer, Alford righted the ship, preserving his team’s lead with his scoring and assisting.
“Just trying to get us in the offense,” Alford said. “We kinda got stagnant there for a little bit, didn’t get any buckets for a while, so I called actually a couple plays for (sophomore guard/forward) Kyle (Anderson) to get him the ball and get him some clear shots. So he got some easy baskets and then we set good screens and I just got to the rack a couple times.”
Alford had several layups late in the second half and also came up clutch at the free-throw line, hitting five of his six shots from the line as Cal fouled him to try to extend the game.
“I thought Bryce made some really crucial plays,” Steve Alford said.
Anderson honored
Anderson was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week Monday after averaging 15 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists last week against Cal and Stanford.
Notching double-doubles in both games, Anderson leads the conference and is fifth in the nation in that category with 11 on the year.
Anderson currently leads the Bruins in minutes played, rebounds, assists and blocks.
His only previously Pac-12 Player of the Week honor came last March.
Turnover trouble
Like Parker regressed from the Stanford game to the Cal one, so too did the Bruins’ ball security. On Thursday, UCLA had just six turnovers to go with its 23 assists, for a very efficient assist to turnover ratio. However those numbers met in the middle against Cal. UCLA had 14 assists and 12 turnovers in the contest for an uncharacteristically low ratio.
Steve Alford called his team’s offensive performance “careless” and “really poor” at times, as its sloppy play created easy transition opportunities for the Golden Bears, who cut a 19-point deficit to as little as three.
Anderson claimed some responsibility for the turnover issues, as he finished with five assists and four turnovers.
“I started off the game with three really bad turnovers and one later in the game,” Anderson said. “It is what it is. I know it’s something I gotta get better with to help my team, but I’m just more happy with the win.”