Men’s Final Four
UCLA’s defensive turnaround came courtesy of USC INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – It’s a rare occasion when UCLA coach Ben Howland feels compelled to thank Southern California.
But the Trojans’ 71-68 victory on Feb. 19 triggered a defensive clampdown that helped carry the Bruins all the way to the Final Four.
“We really appreciate SC motivating us to get better,” Howland said, his tongue firmly in cheek. “That was nice of our crosstown rival.”
That road loss was UCLA’s second in a row. Since then, the Bruins have won a national best 11 straight while holding opponents to 54.7 points.
“When you come to UCLA, you think of going out on fastbreaks, throwing it off the backboard and alley oops,” fifth-year senior Cedric Bozeman said. “We’ve taken it to another level.”
Not that the Bruins hadn’t played solid defense before their breakdown against the Trojans. They had a 20-5 record going into the rivalry game, with none of those losses by more than eight points.
Perhaps overconfidence was to blame, with the Bruins having routed USC by 21 points at home in January.
But then came that Sunday night a month later at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The Bruins committed 10 of their 14 turnovers in the first half and allowed USC to shoot 63 percent in the second half.
“We got exposed on defense,” freshman guard Darren Collison said. “Guards were just going right around us, like we weren’t even trying. We weren’t helpside, we didn’t go down and recover. That was frustrating to us.”
The Bruins gave up 36 points in the paint and shot 40 percent from the floor, 43 percent from 3-point range and 55 percent at the line.
Offensively, they haven’t improved much in the NCAA tournament. They’re shooting 45 percent from the field, 31 percent from long-range and 60 percent from the line.
UCLA had one final chance to tie the game against USC, getting the ball with one second left following a turnover. But Michael Roll’s pass to Arron Afflalo was off-target and rolled out of bounds as time expired.
“It was just a horrible feeling to lose to your own rivals, especially when you’re the team that’s supposed to beat them,” Collison said.
Added Afflalo, “Everybody was really ashamed.”
UCLA paid for it the next day.
“It was like one of those practices we usually have in the beginning of the year,” Collison said. “It was so hard. Everybody was getting physical, everybody was competing.”
Things were so intense, with players diving for loose balls and boxing out aggressively under game conditions, that Howland cut things off earlier than usual.
“That was the toughest practice of my career,” sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar said. “After that, we shifted our focus and made a very concentrated effort on defense.”
The Bruins had been a freewheeling bunch under former coach Steve Lavin, throwing up 3-pointers, dunking and tossing alley-oop passes that excited their fans.
Howland’s arrival three seasons ago heralded a dramatic change. He gradually convinced the Bruins that defense is what wins games, even if it means they frequently score in the 50s and 60s instead of the 80s.
“He sells it from day one,” Farmar said. “There was a lot of trial and error and we failed at times. The turning point was our loss at USC. After that, we shifted our focus and made a very concentrated effort.”
The Bruins (31-6) will meet another defense-first team Saturday when they play LSU (27-8) in the national semifinals.
“If our best bet is to get out in transition and push the ball and get easy opportunities, that’s what we’ll look for,” Farmar said. “If it’s best for us to slow it down, execute in the half court, that’s what we’ll do.”
The much slighter Farmar relishes the prospect of helping defend the Tigers’ front line of Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Tyrus Thomas, insisting that being able to take the physical punishment is more helpful than being big and bulky.
“They do a great job of getting second-shot opportunities,” he said. “We have to limit them. That’s just being tough and physical and getting down there and banging with them.”