No matter who was asked, the answer was the same.
UCLA coach Ben Howland, senior point guard Darren Collison, senior forward Alfred Aboya, it did not matter ““ all had the same response for one particular question: What was the reason behind the drastic turnaround for the UCLA men’s basketball team this weekend?
Answer: defense.
The No. 17 Bruins (17-4, 7-2 Pac-10) reverted back to a defensive form not seen consistently since last season in a 97-63 demolition of Stanford (13-6, 3-6) on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, completing a weekend sweep of the Bay Area schools in which the Bruins won by a combined 49 points. With the win the Bruins remain tied with Washington for first place in the Pac-10 conference standings.
The 97 points scored by the Bruins ““ the most scored in Pac-10 play by any UCLA team under Howland ““ were impressive. So was the 63.3 percent UCLA shooting percentage from the field (74.2 percent in the second half).
But the only thing the Bruins wanted to talk about following the game was defense.
“It’s like a broken record here: It starts with our defense,” Howland said.
One aspect of the defense that proved critical was the pressure the Bruin players put on the Cardinal players, forcing 19 turnovers ““ eight steals ““ and turning them into 25 points off turnovers. While the finishes were absent in the first half ““ the Bruins were 1-of-8 in converting turnovers into points by Howland’s count ““ the Bruins were able to convert in the second half with an array of crowd-raising alley-oop dunks and graceful lay-ups.
“To be honest, there’s no magic trick of what we’ve been doing the last two games; we just raise our level of intensity on the defensive end and it’s been helping us thus far,” said Collison, who finished the game with 15 points. “Everybody’s been talking about we’ve been pushing more, but like coach said, it’s easy to take (the ball away) as opposed to somebody making it and taking it out at the same time.”
Howland said that success of the defense starts with his senior point guard.
“Everything starts with Darren Collison in terms of our defensive intensity,” Howland said. “When’s he’s in on the ball the way he’s been these last two games, we’re a much better defensive team. And he’s really focused on that because we’ve really made that a point because that’s where everything starts is right there with him.”
The high intensity of the UCLA defense held a Stanford offense that went into halftime shooting at a 52.2 percent clip, to just 27.6 percent in the second half, 38.5 percent on the game. In fact, the Bruins missed as many shots in the second half as the Cardinal made (8).
“This is the most disappointing game of the season,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “We just did not play well in any category.”
UCLA freshman shooting guard Jrue Holiday finished the game with 15 points, as did Aboya. Redshirt junior forward Michael Roll had 12 points, while senior guard Josh Shipp added 11 points.
For 10 minutes of the game, the Cardinal was in it, tying the score at 20-20 with a three-pointer by Anthony Goods with 9:29 left in the half.
That’s when the wheels came off.
Over the span of the rest of the first half and the beginning of the second, the Bruins went on a 41-14 run to move ahead 62-34 with 14:31 left in the game. Stanford never got closer than 24 points the rest of the game.
For Aboya, who scored 13 of his 15 points in that span, the run was representative of the mentality the Bruins need to come with night in and night out.
“We have to believe that we’re the fastest team out there, we’re the better defensive team out there, and once we have that belief installed, we just got to bring it every time we play,” Aboya said.
With the win against Stanford, coupled with a big 81-66 victory over California on Thursday, Howland said that after some struggles, the Bruins are finally starting to gel as the team reaches the midpoint of the conference regular season.
“I thought that this weekend we showed good improvement,” Howland said. “Being a young team that (has) six veterans and five freshmen, you know it takes time for us. And I think we’re going to continue to improve, and that’s good news.”
Collison said that the difference between the Bruins now compared to the team that suffered losses against Arizona State and Washington is the defensive stops, which result in transition baskets, easy points, and most importantly, wins.
“Guys is just tired of losing,” Collison said.