In nearly 13 minutes of game time on Saturday night, the Arizona Wildcats were outscored 24-0 by the UCLA Bruins.
UCLA outscored Arizona 7-0 in the first six-plus minutes of the game, and then slapped a 17-0 run on Sean Miller’s team to start the second half.
Naturally, these two runs — accompanied by prolonged scoring droughts on the part of an opponent — would suggest that bubble-hugging UCLA broke through. The Bruins really dominated those 13 minutes, evenly distributed at the beginning of each half.
There was just one problem for the visitors from Westwood: In the remaining 27 minutes, the ‘Cats outscored the Bruins, 57-23.
UCLA will lament a crucial missed opportunity to play its way into the NCAA tournament, but in the meantime, this boom-or-bust trend reminded Wildcat fans of an alarming issue that resurfaced on Saturday. It was the only thing that kept the Wildcats from blowing out UCLA: outside shooting from the starters.
In the first six-plus minutes, the ‘Cats shot 0-of-8 from the floor with four turnovers. During this stretch, Arizona’s starters fell in love with the jump shot. This is a major issue for the group. While each of the five starters are shooting solid percentages from the floor, none of the bunch shoots a percentage higher than the 30s from 3-point range. The trend is nothing new.
When Sean Miller went to the bench, Gabe York, Dusan Ristic, and Elliott Pitts provided some energy and quality shooting. In the first half, the Wildcats’ bench outscored the whole UCLA team, 24-18. The Arizona starters were 9-of-35 from the floor, while the bench shot 9-of-17 for the game.
Just when it looked like Arizona was going to rout the Bruins — having taken a 32-18 halftime lead — the outside shooting slump struck again. In an episode of déjà vu, it took Arizona until the 13:11 mark to get points in the second half. By that time, UCLA had roared in front, 35-32.
This restarted the cycle that ran its course in the first half: When the bench got involved in the second half, and Arizona got going to the rim, the Wildcats were strong again in the second half. They allowed just 12 points to UCLA over the final 13:20. In the first half, they allowed only 11 points to the Bruins in a stretch of nearly 17 minutes leading into halftime.
While the offensive woes should be alarming to Arizona fans, there is a positive that can be taken from Saturday. Even when the ‘Cats get into the scoring drought, they are able to stay in games because of their defensive prowess and their ability to attack the boards.
While the starters may not shoot the best from the outside, they certainly have size. The only starter that is under 6-7 is point guard T.J. McConnell, who stands at 6-1.
Utilizing this size on Saturday night, a dominant effort on the boards led to plenty of second chance opportunities for the Wildcats as well. They outrebounded the Bruins 40-23 for the game. Much of the domination was shown on the offensive end. Arizona yanked down 14 offensive rebounds to UCLA’s one, and putback baskets helped push the Wildcats to the finish line first.
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, UCLA is nearly completely starter-dominated. Coming into the game, the Bruins’ starters scored 90 percent of the team’s total points. This did not change on Saturday.
The loss for UCLA is crippling. While the Bruins have a win over Utah, they will have some serious work to do in the Pac-12 tournament to get into the Big Dance. At this point they are likely on the outside looking in. At best, they are right near the cut line, but what hurts them is that their next three games — Washington, Washington State, and USC — don’t offer them any chance to move up the board. They can only fall dramatically if they lose any of those games. Fellow Pac-12 bubblers Oregon and Stanford have more chances to move up the ladder in the next two weeks. UCLA is in serious trouble.
As for the victors…
With the work it has done, Arizona is eyeing a number two seed in the NCAA tournament, which adds even more fuel to the huge battle at Utah next Saturday. The contest will likely decide the Pac-12 regular season crown.
The Wildcats hope they can defend as well as they did against UCLA… and that they don’t fall in love with the jump shot too much.
