In the afterglow of UCLA men’s basketball’s win over USC on Jan. 14, sophomore guard Bryce Alford took to Twitter to share his excitement.
“Mission Complete #9D3W on to the next!” Alford tweeted, referencing UCLA’s three consecutive wins over a nine-day span.
The Bruins accomplished their short-term goal of winning those three games after their five-game losing streak but now face an even tougher challenge: maintaining that play for the long term.
That task begins Thursday as UCLA (11-7, 3-2 Pac-12) looks to feed off the momentum of its current winning streak on the road against Oregon State (12-5, 3-2).
With more than a week since their last game, however, the Bruins are unsure how much of that momentum will carry over to Thursday’s game.
“When you win three games in a row (and) then you have eight days off between games, it kind of sucks,” Alford said. “You want to just keep playing. You have momentum on you and you’re hot; you want to keep playing.”
The Beavers have been nearly as hot as the Bruins over the past two weeks, winning three out of four games, including a two-point victory over then-No. 7 Arizona on Jan. 11. After stumbling to a 16-16 record last season, Oregon State’s drastic improvement is largely the product of a significantly upgraded defense.
The Beavers have allowed just 56.2 points per game, the 13th-best average in the nation and the second-best in the Pac-12, trailing Utah by just a 10th of a point. Similarly, Oregon State has held opponents to the second-lowest field goal percentage and the lowest 3-point shooting percentage in the conference. What’s more: The Beavers haven’t lost at home all year.
“(Oregon State is a) crazy good defensive team, which is something that is a little bit scary,” Alford said.
The Beavers’ style of play makes them even scarier to the Bruins.
Oregon State regularly employs a zone defense, alternating between a 2-3 zone and a 3-2 zone, which the Bruins aren’t used to facing, Alford said. When UCLA has played against a zone defense this season, Alford admitted his team has struggled to score.
Further adding to the difficulties Oregon State poses, the Beavers tend to force their opponents to adopt their own, slow style of play. Oregon State often uses most of the shot clock on offense, and the sturdiness of its defense forces opposing offenses to play just as slowly.
UCLA, however, seems to have finally figured out its half-court offense after being limited almost exclusively to transition baskets. Much of the credit for the Bruins’ three-game win streak goes to the offense’s increased inclusion of the front court players – junior forward/center Tony Parker and freshman forward Kevon Looney.
With the Bruins going inside with more regularity, they’ve become less reliant on jump shots and more efficient in their half-court offense.
There may be some complications in continuing that strategy against the Beavers, though. After a bout of back spasms began over the weekend, Parker is listed as day-to-day and will be a game-time decision, said coach Steve Alford. Without Parker, UCLA’s ability to succeed in a potentially slow-paced game against Oregon State may be compromised.
“It should change a little bit,” Looney said. “(Parker’s) been dominant down low the past few games in our win streak, so missing him will be huge but I think we’ll be able to handle it for a few games.”
With the challenges posed by Oregon State, the potential absence of Parker and the importance of UCLA’s upcoming games for its season as a whole, the Bruins are once again keeping themselves focused by narrowing their goals.
“Coach sat us down (Monday) and talked to us about our mission this week, trying to get these two wins and that’s all the motivation this team needs,” said senior guard Norman Powell. “We know how it feels to lose and go on a losing streak, and right now we’re on a winning streak and we want to keep that.”