Men’s basketball aims to bounce back from loss streak with Cardinal game
Freshman forward Kevon Looney has hit a slump in the Bruins’ recent four-game road series, failing to register double figures in scoring or rebounding after averaging a double-double in the previous games. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin)
By Jordan Lee
Jan. 8, 2015 6:25 a.m.
As a number of UCLA players find themselves in uncharted waters, it’s sink or swim time for the Bruins.
UCLA returns to Pauley Pavilion Thursday to take on Stanford following a four-game road trip that saw the Bruins’ offense flounder at a historic level in extending UCLA’s losing streak to five games.
UCLA (8-7, 0-2 Pac-12) only scored seven points in the first half against top-ranked Kentucky, and the Bruins only posted 39 points at Utah. Both marks necessitated opening up the record books and blotting them with the wrong kind of history.
The seven points against the Wildcats were the fewest points a Bruin team has ever put up in any half, while the 39-point total against the Utes was the lowest mark by a UCLA team in a game since 1967.
But as the Bruins try to get back on track against the Cardinal (10-3, 2-0), they aren’t interested in what they or any other UCLA team has done but rather what this team will do.
“As coaches, we’re trying to learn the identity of this team,” said coach Steve Alford. “Nothing’s been easy for our young men. Adversity has hit us, and now we’ll see how tough we are. We’ll see the character of the team and character of our makeup.”
What many Bruins haven’t seen is a losing streak of this extent or of this degree. That includes freshman forward Kevon Looney, who said his high school team’s 3-5 mark a year ago was the first time he had ever been below .500.
Through the first 11 games of the season, Looney was a terror for opposing teams, topping double-digit scoring in every contest while averaging a double-double.
But in the team’s recent road swing, Looney’s production has dropped. The forward failed to reach double digits in both scoring and rebounding in all four contests and said that he was not pleased with his performance during the road trip, where he shot 28.9 percent.
“I haven’t played the way I wanted to. It was my first real road trip. I didn’t handle it that (well),” Looney said. “I think it’s just me – I have to pick up my motor, get things going, pick up my energy level. It’s really just all effort. I have to play a little bit harder.”
The same could be said for just about every Bruin, as UCLA’s anemic offense shot less than 32 percent in all four of its recent games and posted a high of 56 in a loss to Colorado after averaging a little more than 80 points per game through Bruins’ initial contests.
While Looney’s struggles could perhaps be attributed to him hitting a freshman wall as opponents get more game film of him, UCLA’s offensive struggles have myriad explanations.
Turnovers are up and assists are down while shots aren’t falling, but confidence is along with UCLA’s NCAA tournament hopes. With no signature wins and a number of embarrassing losses blighting the Bruins’ resume, UCLA realizes the margin for error is razor-thin.
Still, the Bruins maintain that the problems are fixable and that it is still early in the season. Multiple players pointed to last season’s Oregon squad that also dropped five in a row – and eight of 10 – only to recover and make the tournament, as evidence that despite being on the wrong side of the record books, UCLA’s season isn’t history yet.
A win against the Cardinal would help lend some credence to that.
“We understand you have to win games to make the tournament – that’s a big-time thing for us,” said junior forward/center Tony Parker. “We have a chance, we have a shot. It’s early. (But) the line is going to draw in every conference pretty soon.”
