Despite winning 10 straight games, not to mention the Pac-10 regular season and tournament championships, the UCLA men’s basketball team has looked far from invulnerable the past few weeks.
The Bruins needed improbable comebacks to beat Stanford and Cal in the last weekend of the regular season, and in the Pac-10 tournament both USC and Stanford were last-second-3-pointers away from taking UCLA to overtime.
"I think it adds to the confidence," junior guard Darren Collison said of all the Bruins’ close calls. "You look at (NCAA) Tournament play ““ there aren’t too many games where teams blow each other out."
That being said, there was no reason that the Bruins should have needed a last-second buzzer-beater to win against Cal. Even Stanford, which earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, doesn’t have the talent UCLA has.
It’s been clear all year that when UCLA plays its best basketball, the Bruins win. They’ve come a lot closer to playing up to that potential recently, at least at the end of games. If they can do it for six full games, there’s no reason they can’t win it all.
Defensively, they need to tighten up. Coach Ben Howland’s teams have always won with defense, but this year’s defense hasn’t been as dominating. Kevin Love, while much more talented offensively, doesn’t have the quickness or height of Ryan Hollins or Lorenzo Mata-Real.
This has meant that the Bruins have gotten burned off of screens when Love has gone out to hedge and not gotten back quickly enough. Athletic forwards ““ USC’s Davon Jefferson, for example ““ have been able to get open for a lot of easy layups, especially early in games.
Howland’s staff has been good at making adjustments ““ Jefferson had 12 points in the first half of the Pac-10 semifinal, then went scoreless in the second ““ but UCLA needs to avoid digging itself any more holes early. If Love isn’t quick enough to cover back, then the Bruins should consider just switching on screens rather than hedging out and trying to rotate back.
UCLA also needs to continue to get solid rebounding and defense out of its power forward position. Eventually that will mean Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, but, until he comes back from a sprained left ankle, James Keefe and Alfred Aboya will have to share the load. Neither player is a major offensive force, but the Bruins’ offense doesn’t require that position to take a lot of shots.
The Bruins need to continue to be patient offensively. Josh Shipp takes the most 3s, but he’s struggled for much of the year, making just under 34 percent this season.
But Shipp has done a good job of finding other ways to contribute, especially recently, including an eye-popping nine-rebound game against Stanford on Saturday. Shipp can’t be reluctant to shoot when he’s open ““ and during his worst slumps this year, he’s looked like he was ““ but the Bruins also don’t need him jacking up 3s early in the shot clock.
Collison and Russell Westbrook, for their part, are playing very well. While Westbrook is 2 inches taller and Collison is the primary point guard, at times the Bruins have looked more dangerous with the ball in Westbrook’s hands and Collison running off of screens. Collison shoots over 50 percent from beyond the arc, while Westbrook’s absurd athleticism lets him get to the basket against practically everyone.
As he proved with his 28 points against Stanford, Collison is still the leader of this team. But when UCLA’s offense stagnates, as it sometimes does, Westbrook creating off the dribble and finding Collison for open 3s is a good option to have.
Ultimately, everything comes down to urgency. After UCLA’s overtime win over Stanford, Howland praised his team for never doubting that they could win the game. He made similar comments after Shipp’s teardrop beat Cal two days later.
And it’s absolutely true: In both games, the Bruins played as if they assumed they would win. That kept them in position to do so in the last five minutes or so. But it also left them in position to lose for the first 35 minutes.
While the Bruins have proven they can come back from big deficits, they can’t assume they can keep flipping a switch and still win. Sooner or later, a shot or a call won’t go their way.