Losing may breed losing. While you may have expected UCLA to
drop games against Stanford and Arizona, it was surprising to see
how UCLA faltered down the stretch and dropped a seemingly winnable
game at Cal.
The difference in the game in a nutshell: Cal had a go-to player
down the stretch in Leon Powe, and ““ well, UCLA
couldn’t buy a basket.Â
The final numbers? Over the last four minutes, Cal outscored
UCLA, 14-4.
We could belabor the point about rebounding (Powe had 14
rebounds by himself, including four offensive), but we’d be
repeating what everyone already knows ““ the Bruins
couldn’t clear the glass if their lives depended on it.
And sure, everything starts with defense ““ but even when
UCLA played good defense, Cal would snatch the misses and put in
the second chances.
In fact, Powe had been shut out for the first 12 minutes of the
second half. But he did what all great players do ““ he got
himself going by working in the post and drawing a foul with about
six minutes to go. That proved to be a huge turning point. From
that second on, every single time Cal had the ball down the
stretch, one of two things would happen:
a) Cal would miss, and another Cal player would be right there,
hustling and diving to get the offensive rebound (and putback);
or,
b) a foul would be called on UCLA, usually right after Cal made
the basket.
Either way, Cal was getting points nearly every time coming down
the floor. Once Powe scored that first second-half point, the
Bruins seemed affected offensively, despite trailing only
53-50.Â
Howland’s playcalling did get UCLA some pretty good looks
at the end, but the team either didn’t finish or ended up
throwing the ball away. For example, coming off of a timeout and
trailing by three, a defender left Josiah Johnson all alone under
the basket. However, Johnson threw up an off-balanced layup, and
Cal ran the other way. Or how about Trevor Ariza’s baseline
drive into a forest of Golden Bears that ended up giving the ball
to Cal?
“We had open shots,” Dijon Thompson said later.
“We just weren’t knocking them down.”
And that ““ the lack of clutch shooting ““ would
ultimately spell UCLA’s doom.
With the deficit at four, 62-58, with four minutes to go, UCLA
shot nothing but blanks. Aside from T.J. Cummings’ jumper and
Thompson’s meaningless field goal with the game decided,
there were nothing but missed jumpers, missed free throws and poor
passing.
It was a far cry from earlier in the game, when UCLA slowed the
game down, ran deep into the shot clock, and essentially set the
tempo. Down the stretch, UCLA’s shots were early and
ill-advised, the worst of which was Ariza’s three-point
attempt six feet behind the line ““ the shot barely caught the
backboard.
Worst of all, the missed shots allowed Cal to get out and run.
This forced UCLA back on its heels defensively, which resulted in a
failure to establish rebound positioning. And after Cal slowly but
surely expanded the lead, instead of working the ball for the right
shot, the Bruins panicked and started tossing up
three-pointers.
Maybe guard Brian Morrison’s return will be the spark that
UCLA needs to snap the losing streak. Maybe it’ll be the
timing of the rivalry game ““ one that UCLA might actually be
the favorite in for the first time in a while ““ that’ll
jumpstart the engine. Or maybe, it’ll finally dawn on them
that in key games, to get the victory, you’re going to have
to do it down the stretch, to sink the clutch shots, to get the
rebound when you need it the most ““ to do whatever it takes
to get the “˜W.’
Either way, their chances at a NCAA tournament bid become
slimmer each time they drop a game they should have won ““
like they did Saturday.
E-mail Bruce at btran@media.ucla.edu.