The UCLA women’s basketball team is on the verge of eclipsing a season high Friday night – and that’s not a good thing.
UCLA (8-13, 4-6 Pac-12) has lost four games in a row and a loss Friday in Pauley Pavilion against Colorado (10-11, 3-7) would mean a new season-high losing streak. However, the Bruins will have a chance to maintain their undefeated record on Sunday against Utah (7-14, 1-9) in Pac-12 play since 2011 when Utah joined the conference.
To get ready for the matchups and to build on weaknesses from last week, a focus in practice has been improving vision on the court and limiting mental lapses.
“Mature players understand how important all the small things are and they work hard everyday,” said redshirt sophomore guard Kari Korver. “So we are really trying to become a harder-working team by focusing in mentally on what the coaches are asking of us.”
In three of the past four games the Bruins have lost double-digit leads, deteriorating in the second half. After her team’s collapse against Oregon Saturday, coach Cori Close said UCLA’s failure to respond to Oregon’s pressure was due to a lack of maturity and poor decision making.
This week Close set up drills designed to improve the team’s performance in tight situations. One of these drills is meant to create new reads by putting Korver, freshman guard Jordin Canada and junior guard Nirra Fields in triple penetrating situations that force them to move up the court quickly and make reads to the help-side rotation. Another drill involves the offense playing with 10 seconds on the shot clock and having to move the ball in the paint before shooting in the final seconds.
Despite a high-scoring game in Colorado when the teams met earlier in the season in a 90-84 UCLA win, Close said she isn’t expecting a high-scoring game once again, saying the first one was an anomaly. However, she is expecting one with Utah. In their first meeting, the Bruins squeezed by 49-46.
“Both games are going to be defensive battles,” Close said, noting that the team will be switching from playing primarily zone defense to playing man-to-man. While Close said the Bruins’ zone defense has worked well thus far, they have been working on their man defense because Colorado, among other teams, is shooting the ball well from the 3-point line.
“The conference is shooting the ball so well from the perimeter that we’re going to have to play really good player-to-player defense,” said Close.
Canada said she has seen improvement in UCLA’s new approach to defense, even in its losses to Oregon and Oregon State.
“We’ve grown in that area,” Canada said. “I think we’ve helped each other more on the weak side option and making sure we have a helper.”
Colorado’s senior guard Lexy Kresl has had a hot hand since the Buffs’ loss against the Bruins back in January, averaging 20 points a game. However, Close said she’s confident about her team’s matchup against Kresl and is more focused on limiting junior forward Jamee Swan and senior forward Jen Reese who scored 30 points against UCLA in January.
Despite the key focuses of the Bruins’ game plan, Close said she thinks the weekend’s results will come down to the intangible plays of the game.
“It’s all those things that don’t show up in the stat sheet that I think will make a difference in the game(s),” Close said.