Inexperienced UCLA men’s basketball squad fine-tunes identity

UCLA is a team that is, admittedly, under construction. It’s a team filled with new faces, without an identity.

Still, men’s basketball coach Steve Alford is hesitant to use that dreaded “R-word.”

“I hope it’s not ‘rebuilding’ – I hope that foundation was laid (last year),” Alford said. “And as new pieces get into it, it’s going to look differently for a while. There’s a lot of youth and a lot of inexperience. (But) I hope week to week they can always go back to the foundation in knowing how we want to play.”

While the Bruins return with just one starter from a year ago, junior forward/center Tony Parker and sophomore guard Bryce Alford have ascended to the starting lineup after providing valuable minutes as rotation players last season.

That leaves sophomore guard/forward Noah Allen and sophomore forward Wanaah Bail – who combined for 32 points and 15 rebounds in their freshman seasons – as the only players from last year’s team that are expected to be in UCLA’s regular rotation this year. Freshmen center Thomas Welsh and forward Gyorgy Goloman are the other likely contributors off of a bench that is still very much a work in progress.

“They are learning their roles, and they are getting better at it,” Steve Alford said. “In developing this bench, it’s going to be how we defend, how we rebound (and) can we rest guys and still stay at the level we need to stay. … That may not be point production every night.”

The Bruins learned a little bit more about their roles in a scrimmage last week in the team’s final tuneup prior to its season opener against Montana State on Friday.

After struggling on the defensive end for much of the night in the team’s exhibition game against Azusa Pacific on Oct. 31, UCLA came away much more pleased with its performance in the scrimmage.

“Defense fuels our offense, and I think we found that out in the scrimmage. We were able to get defensive stops and … we were just out in transition,” senior guard Norman Powell said. “And that really helped us. To know that defensive stops are going to help us get in the flow of our offense is going to be a big deal for us.”

What should also be of help for a young Bruin squad is having Bryce Alford and Powell, who have emerged as the team’s vocal leaders after coming off of the bench at one point in their UCLA careers.

Both players said that they have talked to the younger players on the team after they were anxious in the team’s first go-around in Pauley Pavilion on Halloween.

“That’s one of the biggest things I’ve done is telling them I have their back,” Alford said. “That I believe in you, and if you’re not making shots, to keep shooting. I don’t care, I think you are going to make your shots – I know and I trust your ability.”

Still, both Alford and Powell are adjusting to new roles as well – Powell as the team’s primary scoring option and Bryce Alford as the floor general after backing up Kyle Anderson a year ago.

So while it might not be a rebuild, with a team low on experience and high on questions, what is it?

“It’s going to be a process, we know that. There are going to be games where we think they get it, and then, ‘Uh-oh.’ You’re going to be saying ‘uh-oh,'” Steve Alford said. “That’s part of the youthfulness at this level. What I’ve got to be and what the staff has to be is patient. We really have to be patient because it is an inexperienced team.”