Bruins travel, play, conquer

The Bruins returned to Westwood the other night, which from a
fan’s perspective, is pretty unsettling. Just think about
them facing the Arizona schools later this week in Pauley Pavilion.
Talk about an intimidating atmosphere.

Obviously, it’d be nicer if this team kept on
traveling.

For all the hoopla there is about home court advantage in
college basketball, UCLA seems more comfortable in airport
terminals, hotel lobbies, and oh yeah, just about every opposing
arena it steps foot in.

With their convincing win over Oregon State in Corvallis, the
Bruins improved to 5-0 in road games this year. That mark
doesn’t include a less impressive 2-1 record at neutral
sites, where the environment apparently isn’t hostile
enough.

“Sometimes when you go home you can let outside things
affect you because you have everybody behind you,” sophomore
guard Arron Afflalo said. “But when you’re on the road,
it’s just your team. They got your back and that’s
it.”

Three of the Bruins’ best performances this year ““
against Michigan, Arizona, and Oregon State ““ have all come
away from home. Back in December, they drained an energized Ann
Arbor crowd that had been supercharged about the Wolverines’
undefeated start. A couple of weeks ago in Tucson, they deflated
Wildcat fans who had been far more accustomed to getting stung by
cacti than by Bruin basketball. And on Saturday, they gave the
Beaver student section about as much to cheer about as the local
weather forecast.

“We like the road,” senior Cedric Bozeman said.
“We like the challenge. It’s a hostile environment and
we like taking crowds out of it. We bond together.”

All that bonding has helped establish the Bruins as the class of
the Pac-10, a position they’d undoubtedly retain if they
didn’t have to return to Pauley. Unfortunately, the Bruins
still have four home games left on the schedule, and recent history
suggests that means two more losses.

UCLA has only managed a split in each of its last three home
series. Certainly, a good amount of that can be attributed to the
quality of two of the opponents ““ Washington and West
Virginia. That aside, the Bruins looked utterly lousy for an entire
half in each of those contests. And their third home loss of the
year, to Cal, was arguably their ugliest effort of the season. So
much for the comfort and familiarity of home.

That’s not to say there’s some kind of voodoo curse
linking the Den’s presence to horrific Bruin shooting
displays. Nevertheless, UCLA’s head-scratching home and away
records may be more than just a product of bad luck and good
fortune.

The make-up of Ben Howland’s squad is particularly
resistant to the normal pitfalls that road games present. Crowds
are most effective at disrupting an opponent’s offensive
rhythm, oftentimes getting into players’ heads and forcing
them to make poor decisions. This widely held belief isn’t
particularly applicable to the Bruins, who turn the ball over and
struggle to score regardless of where they play.

Fans have far less impact rattling another team’s defense,
which just so happens to be the Bruins’ overwhelming
strength. During defensive sets, UCLA doesn’t have to contend
with constant noise or nagging heckles. Its biggest obstacle is a
shot-clock operator, who freezes time for the home team. And that
simply doesn’t happen very often.

Perhaps Afflalo’s earlier comment adequately explains his
team’s relative struggles at Pauley. The easiest solution in
that case would be for the Bruins to play the remainder of their
home schedule in an empty gym so there are no “outside
things” to serve as distractions.

It’s an option that doesn’t make much sense at first
glance. Then again, neither does the idea of a team possessing
road-court advantage.

E-mail Finley at [email protected].