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| In the first 10 games of this season, SR guard Norman Powell is averaging 17.9 points (top scorer on team), 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 2 assists (stats link). |
When three players account for more than 50 percent of your team’s scoring, you better make sure they stay on the court.
For UCLA, that means keeping its thin backcourt out of foul trouble. The Bruins (7-2) only have three guards who average more than 15 minutes per game: senior Norman Powell and sophomores Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton. With a schedule that features plenty of fleet-footed opponents for them to defend, what’s the key to limiting whistles?
“That’s a hard one,” said head coach Steve Alford. “We mix defenses. That’s part of the reason why we go back from man to zone. We get in foul trouble, you see us go zone a little bit. If we’ve got to play guys extended minutes, we’ll throw some zone out there just so we’re not chasing cutters all over the court.
“That’s one of the reasons why we mix it up.”
More than anything, Powell needs to keep himself off the bench. The 6-foot-4 guard has become UCLA’s most complete scorer, shooting 44.7 percent from beyond the arc and earning more than six free throw attempts per game. But even given his history as a strong one-on-one defender, he has twice this season picked up four fouls and sat for extended stretches.
The first game was a 75-65 loss to Oklahoma that spoiled the Bruins’ 4-0 start. Powell scored a season-low eight points.
The second game was a 75-68 win against San Diego, UCLA’s closest decision of the year.
“I thought our guys adjusted much better to it in the San Diego game than the Oklahoma game,” Alford said. “There was growth.”
It’s not as if Powell is committing fouls at a higher rate than before. He is still sitting at 3.6 per 40 minutes, right in line with his average for the last two seasons. But he is a much more crucial part of UCLA’s rotation now, using nearly a quarter of the team’s possessions.
Powell insisted that the increased offensive burden hasn’t affected his defensive focus.
“It’s really me just picking up stupid fouls,” he said. “I thought about it last game ‑ 50 feet from the basket, I can do that. It’s not really a balance of guarding their best player and trying to stay out of foul trouble. It’s us trying not to make the extreme play.
“Trying to get a steal in the backcourt, when there’s no possible way they can make a play on the rim. ... Not gambling. That’s where I’ve been picking up most of my fouls, is gambling, trying to get steals.”
MILESTONE WATCH
Recently turned 50, Alford is in his 24th year as a collegiate head coach and needs just two more wins to reach 500 for his career. Tonight’s 8 p.m. tipoff against UC Riverside (5-3) at Pauley Pavilion may be crucial to his hopes of hitting that mark before the end of the calendar year.
After playing the Highlanders, the Bruins will host No. 9 Gonzaga, play No. 1 Kentucky at the United Center in Chicago, and travel to Alabama to close the nonconference schedule.
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