Michael Roll had almost forgotten.
The UCLA junior guard hadn’t thought about that strange January afternoon, when the Bruins’ offense stalled, scored no points in the final eight minutes of the second half against Arizona State, and fell in overtime, 61-58.
“It was just so bizarre,” he said.
It seems like a long time ago to the Bruins, who have improved and won five of their six games since that demoralizing defeat at Pauley Pavilion. Tonight No. 11 UCLA (19-4, 8-2 Pac-10) will have a chance to finally erase the memory of that last loss when they face No. 18 Arizona State (18-5, 7-4) in Tempe, in what will be a crucial matchup between two teams at the top of the Pac-10 standings.
A Bruin loss would almost certainly drop them from first place in the conference, giving the Sun Devils a chance to revive their hopes for a Pac-10 title.
“We have to win this game to stay in first place,” Roll said. “That’s what we’re going to focus on.”
The Bruins can also prove tonight that their last collapse against Arizona State was a strange fluke and that their new style ““ a fast-paced offense and a more intense defense ““ has not been merely an aberration.
The Bruins have forced 74 turnovers in their past four wins. That defensive pressure catalyzes more easy transition baskets, and the results have been stunning. UCLA has outscored its opponents by 94 points in that stretch, an average of 23.4 per game.
But in its first meeting with the Sun Devils, UCLA managed to force only seven turnovers, and players described the offense as “stagnant.”
“It will be a test for us to do a better job defensively with our ball pressure than we did the last time,” coach Ben Howland said.
Howland added that Arizona State’s patient offense limits the number of turnovers they commit. The Sun Devils run a variation of the Princeton offense ““ utilizing lots of passing and back-door cuts ““ and like to isolate star guard James Harden, who leads the Pac-10 in scoring at 21.9 points per game.
“We will try to speed the game up and create a lot of turnovers,” UCLA forward Alfred Aboya said. “That will be the key.”
Howland has also altered the Bruins’ rotation since the last meeting with Arizona State, and he believes it’s helped their offensive energy. Howland now uses a 10-man rotation, and freshmen guards Jerime Anderson and Malcolm Lee both play important minutes.
The breakdown at the end of the last game against Arizona State was at least partially caused by fatigue, Howland said. The Bruins’ core of veterans ““ Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Aboya ““ had played too many minutes.
“It’s just asking too much of them,” Howland said. “You get a diminishing return on your effort when it’s having to be sustained for too many minutes in a row.”
The result was a weird finish where the Bruins lost an 11-point lead and looked helpless against the Arizona State zone defense.
“That’s uncharacteristic of the way we play,” Aboya said. “I know we’re a good closing team. That game, for whatever reason, we couldn’t buy a basket.”
The Bruins have made significant progress since that collapse. Two wins this weekend would help increase the Bruins’ chance at a No. 4 seed or better in the NCAA tournament and pave the road to a fourth straight Pac-10 championship.
But, for now, the disappointment from the last loss to Arizona State still lingers.
“I watched the game again Monday, but I’d already seen it five or six times,” Howland said. “It all comes back.”