Earlier in the week, coach Steve Alford called Long Beach State his team’s biggest test thus far in the young season.
In a performance that wasn’t always pretty, the Bruins still managed to pass. Barely.
Senior guard Norman Powell led all scorers with 24 points while sophomore guard Bryce Alford added 17 points and seven assists as UCLA (4-0) bested LBSU (2-3) 77-63 to complete an undefeated homestand.
Powell led the way offensively for UCLA and finished as the only Bruin to shoot over 50 percent, knocking in eight of his 14 shots – including four of seven from beyond the arc.
“I didn’t take it on myself, (to step up offensively),” said Powell, who has now topped 20 points in three of UCLA’s first four games. “It can be anybody at this point, but it was me and I was able to fuel our offense and it helped both halves.”
For much of the night it appeared as if it was just Powell producing, although all five starters did finish in double figures.
UCLA was bothered by LBSU’s 2-3 zone coming out of the halftime break, as the Bruins shot 12-32 from the field in the second half and just over 15 percent from deep.
“(Zone defense is) something we really (hadn’t) seen yet through three games,” Bryce Alford said. “We definitely became stagnant, and a lot of that is on me as a point guard. … I’ve got to realize that they are in a zone and get us into an offense quickly.”
LBSU capitalized on UCLA’s cold spell in the second half, netting seven of its first 10 shots to cut UCLA’s lead to as little as four with 9:36 to go.
“I thought we learned some lessons. … That’s the poorest we’ve been coming out of halftime and we needed this,” Steve Alford said. “We needed to see what happens when someone punches you to start the second half. It took us a while to respond, but we kept fighting.”
The Bruins did just that, using a strong defensive effort and staying active on the offensive boards to hold off the 49ers.
Though UCLA’s offense struggled from the field, the Bruins collected 15 offensive rebounds, including seven from freshman forward Kevon Looney.
Up 66-61 with a little less than three minutes remaining, Bryce Alford hesitated, then drove to the basket and floated the ball up with his right hand. His shot rimmed out but there was Looney, skying for the ball. He collected the ball and dunked it home to push the Bruins’ lead to seven.
LBSU never got closer. UCLA’s defense made sure of that.
Looney added a block and a defensive and offensive rebound in the following two minutes while Powell sealed the game with a steal – the Bruins 15th of the night.
“(The defensive performance was) very important because we are going on a tough road trip, it was our first real test, we never had a real close game yet,” Looney said. “We never had our backs against the wall yet, so this was a great test for us.”
UCLA passed this test and managed to learn a couple of lessons along the way. Not a bad gift for Steve Alford, who celebrated his 50th birthday Sunday.
At the very least, it’s certainly better than the alternative.
“I definitely thought about it warming up, what if we lost on his birthday – it’s going to ruin it,” Powell said with a laugh. “But we were able to play hard and grind it out and get a win. … I know he’s happy, he’s got a birthday cake in the locking room waiting for him.”