UCLA is finding just how much it misses Lonzo Ball.
Say what you will about Ball’s stressful, inconsistent performances so far as a 19-year old rookie point guard with the NBA Los Angeles Lakers, he was a near perfect passing point guard and the glue behind the Bruins’ Sweet 16 team last year and was the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft.
Junior point guard Aaron Holiday is no Lonzo Ball and the Bruins have become self destructive with turnovers in their last two losses, committing 20 at Michigan and 18 during a 77-63 home loss to 25th-ranked Cincinnati yesterday at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA (7-3) is still looking for its first signature win of the season. Heck, the Bruins are still looking for a win over any team with a winning record. Their best win so far technically has been over Cal State Bakersfield, which has an RPI of 63.
The Bruins are sitting at 87 in the RPI with just two wins over teams from power conferences, Georgia Tech from the ACC, who has lost to Grambling and Wofford, and a seven-loss Wisconsin team from the Big 10. The Bearcats (9-2) blew a close game wide open in the first half when they went on an 18-0 run to take a 36-23 lead, forcing the Bruins into 15 of their turnovers and holding them scoreless in the final seven minutes.
“The whole difference in the game, I think, was just pass-catching ball-handling,” UCLA coach Steve Alford said. “Our offense has got to catch up.”
And they have to find a way to get the ball to seven foot senior Thomas Welsh more effectively in the low post when he was double-teamed. Welsh got just one shot in the first half and finished with a season low four points.
“It’s a trust factor of learning who’s hot, who needs the basketball,” Alford said. “We went 17 minutes without Tom getting a shot. That’s stuff guards have got to figure out. We talked about starting inside out and we didn’t. We started outside-in and that affects your offense a lot, so you get pushed further out.”
I was trying to get him involved and that was really where my turnovers were, trying to pass it to him,” admitted Holiday, who had 17 points, but four turnovers and just three assists. “We have to figure it out.”
UCLA, that is playing short handed with a roster of just eight scholarship players, does have much margin for error on a thin front line that has been adversely affected by the suspensions of 6-10 Cody Riley and 6-10 Jalen Hill, who are sitting out indefinitely following the shop lifting incident in China. Ironically, the tickets for this game featured a picture of LiAngelo Ball, who has left school and signed a pro deal in Lithuania. The Bearcats outscored the Bruins, 30-20, on the front line.
The Pac-12 is down this season, with only two ranked teams in the Top 25; and the Bruins do not have much chance for a quality non-conference win. Their only marquee opponent before league season is Kentucky this Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans.
