The zone killed UCLA after all.
Coach Ben Howland used it, but he hates it.
His players didn’t quite know how to play it and on the other end, the Bruins were prepared to face a zone defense ““ but Cal played man-to-man defense to open the game.
All this confusion led to what the team called a “flat start” on Sunday against the Bears, which ultimately sunk the Bruins, snapping their six-game winning streak.
So will Howland play zone again?
No,” he said curtly. “We’re not going to be playing zone.”
Two days after the Bruins fell, Howland and his players had time to reflect on how they lost a game they could have won.
Surprised by Cal’s choice to play man-to-man, UCLA fell behind early 15-4 and shot only 29 percent in the first half ““ errors from which it didn’t quite recover.
“There’s no reason why we should come out that flat,” junior guard Malcolm Lee said.
When the Bruins went to a zone defense in the second half, everyone, even the players were surprised.
“We’ve haven’t worked on zone all year,” sophomore forward Reeves Nelson said, though he added that he thought it was a good adjustment.
Howland said that foul trouble for Nelson and freshman center Joshua Smith were the impetus for the adjustment.
But the zone wasn’t the only culprit in the loss. Howland estimated that Cal pulled down six or seven offensive rebounds in the first half, most of which contributed to the Bears’ 19 second-chance points.
Sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt, who averages 7.5 rebounds per game, had zero on Sunday.
“You’d think in 43 minutes I’d get at least one,” Honeycutt said jokingly.
UCLA’s pick-and-roll defense was exposed again, too ““ this time by Cal’s Jorge Gutierrez. The junior guard torched the Bruins for 34 points, getting to the basket at will.
Honeycutt said the team can make adjustments like asking Smith to plug a little higher in the key, but didn’t try as hard to rationalize.
“He was just in a zone,” Howland said of Gutierrez.
“He was making some tough shots. You have to give them credit. They were doing a good job, man or zone.”
Making concessions
Howland said Tuesday that after watching the tape and crunching the statistics he probably should have given Smith and freshman guard Tyler Lamb more minutes.
On the other end of the spectrum, both Lee and Honeycutt played 43 of 45 minutes in the overtime game.
“That was my fault,” Howland said.
Saying goodbye?
Honeycutt and Nelson both could be playing their last game at Pauley Pavilion this weekend. For Lee, it is a certainty as the junior would graduate before the renovated Pauley reopens in 2013.
When asked about the possibility of an early departure to the NBA, Honeycutt, the player highest on draft boards, was non-committal.
“I don’t know,” he said simply. “I don’t know.”
Notes
The Bruins are 0-3 in Sunday games this season, but 7-0 in Saturday games.
A UCLA spokesperson said that Saturday’s game against Arizona is still not sold out. The UCLA Athletics Department is pushing for a “Blue out, sell out” event.