Alfred Aboya may not be the focal point for UCLA’s opponents in their pre-game preparation.
But as the 2006-2007 season has progressed, opponents have learned that the sophomore forward is a force to be reckoned with.
In just his second season, Aboya has been able to translate the raw talent he displayed as a freshman into signs of becoming a more intelligent, complete player.
Aboya has improved drastically on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor this year. His defensive awareness has increased considerably, he has become even more of a force on the offensive glass, and he has displayed the ability to score in the post and not just off putbacks off of rebounds.
“(All of these improvements) have a common denominator: practice,” Aboya said.
Aboya’s ailing knees, in the process of recovering from multiple surgeries, often held him back from practicing at full-strength or even at all last season. Up until the Washington game last week, Aboya had been much healthier and able to fully participate in practice throughout the season. He said his left knee, which kept him out of the Washington game, is 100 percent now.
“When you do the same thing over and over again, at some point, it becomes routine,” Aboya said. “With practice and repetition, you get better and better every day. I think I improved because I was able to stay injury-free in practice this year.”
It’s starting to become something of a staple for post players to develop under Ben Howland and his coaching staff. Ryan Hollins took his game to new heights at the end of his senior year last year. Meanwhile, junior center Lorenzo Mata has developed into a complete player in his three years in the program. If this season is any indication, Aboya seems headed in the same direction.
“(Aboya) has been through ups and downs just like me with injuries and everything,” Mata said. “He’s just a hard worker. We bang each other and work each other hard during practice and that’s something that we have to continue doing.”
If there’s one thing Aboya has never had a problem doing, it’s being aggressive.
Aboya’s intensity, strength and ability to get after it have been on prime display from the moment he put on the UCLA jersey. But what have been his biggest assets as a player could also be his biggest weaknesses at times.
Whether it was picking up an unnecessary foul, setting moving screens, or making unwise decisions with the ball, there were plenty of instances where Aboya was perhaps guilty of being too aggressive last season.
This season, he has been able to temper his aggressiveness with self-control and an improved basketball IQ.
A prime example of this has been his man-to-man defense. As a freshman, Aboya would get so amped up about stopping his man that he often ignored what was going on around him. He would lose track of where the ball was and where he was in relation to the basket.
As a result, Aboya would miss help-side assignments and open up opportunities for the opposition to get easy baskets that could have been prevented.
This season has been an entirely different story. Aboya has developed the ability to focus on his man in relation to the basket and always knows where the ball is. He is currently leading the team in charges taken with 17, a strong testament to his improved defensive play.
“I was so excited and I was just acting crazy,” Aboya said about his defense last season. “Now, I’ve gained experience, I know where to be, and I’ve got the principles of basketball down.
“(Defense) is two things: It’s your man and the basket, and that’s becoming second-nature.”
Perhaps more than anything else he’s done this season, Aboya has come up big for UCLA on the boards. He is the team’s second-leading rebounder in conference play at 5.1 per game and is averaging just over 2 offensive rebounds per game for the season.
But just as important as the rebounds he gets are the rebounds he sets up for his teammates. Howland said earlier in the year that Aboya was the best player on the team in terms of boxing out his opponents for rebounds. Aboya’s box-outs clear the way for other Bruins, as well as himself, to grab rebounds.
“Obviously (playing with Alfred) helps a lot,” said sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who leads the Bruins with 7.7 rebounds a game. “It takes the load off of the shoulders. You know if you don’t get the rebound, Alfred has a chance to get it. It’s definitely helping us and we need him to keep doing that.”