At least on one side of the ball, the Bruins are playing the way coach Steve Alford wants them to, by riding a three-game winning streak built on strong offensive performances. That puts them in a better place than they were two weeks ago, when they lost three straight games while struggling on both ends. […]
Category Archives: Men’s Basketball
Smith Says: Men’s basketball struggles to stay afloat as season winds down
Conference play has not exactly gone according to plan for the Bruins this season. Back in July, I wrote about why UCLA men’s basketball (16-7, 7-4 Pac-12) was in better position to make noise within the Pac-12 than they were a year ago – and I still think I was right – but the Bruins […]
UCLA men’s basketball escapes with 82-79 victory over USC
This post was updated Feb. 3 at 6:20 p.m. The men of Troy were no match for the masked man. Senior center Thomas Welsh, still donning a fitted face mask after breaking his nose, hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining and two free throws to ice the game with 11 seconds […]
UCLA men’s basketball trails USC by 1 point entering halftime
USC barraged UCLA from long distance – hitting four of their first five 3-pointers – but the Bruins eventually buckled down on defense. The Trojans only made five of their last 16 shots, but entered halftime with a 41-40 lead. Both USC and UCLA sprinted out of the gate following the opening tip, shooting above […]
Sports editors discuss tough three-game stretch ahead of men’s basketball
UCLA men’s basketball has traversed an up-and-down season in coach Steve Alford’s fifth year in Westwood – from suspending three freshmen for shoplifting in China to defeating Kentucky for the third consecutive year. Ahead of a tantalizing three-game stretch against likely NCAA Tournament-bound teams USC, Arizona and Arizona State, Daily Bruin Sports editor David Gottlieb […]
USC provides UCLA men’s basketball with a formidable challenge
For most of the year, the most interesting storylines surrounding UCLA and USC men’s basketball have been off the court, with the Bruins’ season defined by the early-season incident in China and the Trojans’ by the stain of connections to the FBI’s investigation of bribery in college basketball. But as Saturday’s meeting between the teams […]
Four-guard lineup rejuvenates UCLA men’s basketball’s offense
For the first time in a while, UCLA men’s basketball returned to having fun. There was a Kris Wilkes fast-break windmill dunk – routine by his standards – and a between-the-legs alley-oop pass from Jaylen Hands to Wilkes in the same game, minutes apart from each other. The freshman guards riled up both the crowd […]