This post was updated Feb. 12 at 9:17 p.m.
UCLA men’s basketball notched its fourth consecutive win Sunday, running away from Oregon State with a dominant second-half offensive effort en route to a 78-60 home victory.
The Bruins (23-3, 10-3 Pac-12) struggled early on, producing their lowest-scoring half of the season in the first period as the Beavers (4-22, 0-13) bogged down the pace of the game with their slow tempo.
“The first half, we didn’t do a good job of establishing the pace, and they kind of handled that,” senior guard Bryce Alford said. “So second half, we wanted to come out and be aggressive and try to speed them up.”
UCLA accomplished that by using a three-quarters-court press defense to force Oregon State into quick possessions. Even if the Beavers found some open shots by breaking the press, the higher tempo helped the Bruins explode on the offensive end, where they shot 57.6 percent en route to 46 second-half points.
“Against a team like this that wasn’t attacking the basket, wasn’t looking to attack the basket until late in the shot clock, we (wanted to) get them in to some quick shots,” coach Steve Alford said. “We’re really not a pressing team, but we were hoping we could just generate a little higher tempo than they wanted to play at.”
Freshman point guard Lonzo Ball led the offensive attack with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including three alley-oop dunks as well as another fast-break flush. Ball, who is second in the nation in assists with 7.6 per game, has looked more comfortable scoring the ball lately, averaging 18.7 points over UCLA’s past six games.
“I just take what the game gives me,” Ball said. “At the beginning of the season, people were playing me for the drive so the passing lanes were open. Now they’re playing the passing lanes a little bit more, and it’s opened up the lane for me.”
The defense continued to look improved for UCLA, with the Bruins holding the Beavers to just 40.4 percent shooting.
Over the past few games, the Bruins have been more focused on pressuring ball-handlers on the perimeter. It caused some trouble for Oregon State on Sunday, with the Beavers producing a handful of turnovers as a result of swarming defensive traps out near half court or in the backcourt.
“Anytime that we’re being aggressive on defense, that’s when we’re doing our best,” senior guard Bryce Alford said. “Anything that can just get us active really helps.”
Bracket talk
Ball was quick to dismiss the importance of the March Madness bracket preview the NCAA released Saturday, which had the Bruins ranked 15th in the nation and slotted as a No. 4 seed.
“The brackets mean nothing right now,” Ball said.
Coach Steve Alford seemed surprised that UCLA was so low in the rankings.
“I wish we could control that,” Steve Alford said. “I like what we’ve done. … If anything, it’s a little bit of motivation for our guys.”