UCLA showings signs of gelling

UCLA showings signs of gelling

BY RYAN KARTJE
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Jan. 16, 2013 Updated: 6:29 p.m.


LOS ANGELES – All game long against Colorado last Saturday, UCLA had been gasping for air.

Travis Wear, arguably the team's most conditioned player, couldn't help but pant as he ran up and down the court, stopping between plays for his hands to rest on his knees. Shabazz Muhammad, who started the year out of shape, seemed to revert to that form – the thin Rocky Mountain air allowing for only shallow breaths. Every member of the Bruins' seven-man rotation was gassed, as they desperately tried to hold off their opponent's late run in Boulder.

And as Coach Ben Howland's team surged excitedly off the court and down the tunnel after holding on for a three-point victory and completing their two-game road sweep of Utah and Colorado – the first time any Pac-12 team has accomplished that feat – they turned down a narrow hallway to the small visiting locker room, still catching their breath.

The team remained silent behind close doors for a moment. This had been one of the hardest-fought of their nine consecutive wins – a different class of battle that required the sort of mental toughness the Bruins didn't have when the season began. Six weeks ago, UCLA had lost a home game to Cal Poly. Now, they stood at the top of the Pac-12 mountaintop, having fought their way back.

Without warning, a primal roar exploded from inside the tiny room and filled the back hallway. For all the breath they had used on the court, this was the most resounding of exhales – a moment of catharsis for a team that has, for months since the season began, arduously carried the burden of high expectation.

Howland had hoped his team would embrace an "us against the world" dynamic – thanks to early, public criticism – and the team's prolonged success certainly suggests that they had. Just weeks after reports swirled about his job status, he emerged from the locker room, from his team's primal yell, with a smile on his face. He continued to glow as he leaned back in his chair.

"We're where we want to be in the new season," Howland said. "We just want to keep building. ... This team has a lot of room to continue to grow."

That's the message Howland has conveyed all season: Give this young team some time, and then they might just live up to their potential.

"I think (we're) just gelling more as a team," Muhammad said before the team's two-game road trip. "Back when we played Cal Poly and Georgetown, everybody wasn't on the same page. Now, we just know each other's games and know what we're going to do on offense and defense, and you can tell that our team chemistry is just really getting to where we want it to be."

Muhammad compared those early games to playing pick-up basketball, with each of the Bruins pressing to make something happen. Now, things aren't necessarily coming easy, but the difference is certainly palpable.

For four consecutive Pac-12 games, the Bruins held off a final push from each of their opponents. On the road, those late-game comebacks hung by a thread – a 3-pointer away from dooming UCLA twice in three days. But for a team that needed confidence more than it needed anything else, pulling out close victories have given the Bruins' battle-tested experience that they desperately needed – experience that has them looking like one of the teams to beat in the Pac-12.

"Winning will do that for you," Howland said Tuesday.

But can the Bruins continue on this pace — one victory away from tying their longest winning streak since the 2008-09 season?

UCLA's victories, after all, haven't been all that resounding – especially on offense where the Bruins are averaging just 67 points per game over their last three. The defense has improved noticeably in that span, though, as Pac-12 opponents have shot just 39 percent in four games against UCLA this season.

But Muhammad has struggled mightily to get into rhythm in the past two games, and while Wear has picked up some of the scoring load – averaging 16.6 points over his last five – the Bruins will need a collective effort, with each of its talented freshmen contributing at their highest level, to knock off teams such as Oregon and Arizona – both of which seemed to have emerged as the class of the conference early on. Questions and doubts continue to hang over the program.

A few of those questions will be at least partially answered within the week, as the Ducks come to Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, and UCLA travels to Tucson for its most important contest of the season thus far next Thursday.

That cathartic roar from last Thursday – a ritual that Howland has now used after three games (Texas, Missouri, and Colorado) – undeniably marked a new stage for the young Bruins. But with one goal reached and a pair of road victories in their back pocket, UCLA's next step will be the most important of its season.

"(Winning on the road) kind of takes a little bit of pressure off of us," freshman Kyle Anderson said, "but at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on us. We're playing really well right now – that's pretty obvious – but we don't want to lose sight of what we've been doing to get here. We want to do the same thing."

And for a team that struggled to find its identity early – hamstrung by the limits of inexperience – staying the same and maintaining that momentum may just be its greatest challenge yet.

Contact the writer: rkartje@ocregister.com