The Power of Coach Compels You! Bruins Beat Down Arizona 65-58

So much of being a fan of the UCLA Bruins revenue sports lately has been all about the constructive criticism. This game had such a better feel than many others so far this season. We may have forgotten how to do this, but I would like to ask you all to answer, what did the Bruins (players and coaches — gosh announcers and food vendors) do right at this game?

I am still getting over CBH having time outs available toward the end of play!

There’s absolutely no reason they should be at a miserable 8-7. Had they put forth the effort they did tonight every night, they’d easily be 14-1, if not undefeated. They absolutely have the horses to run with the best.

But trying to juggle PT and massage the personalities has cost this team a stomach-turning seven games. I just hope that Josh took notice of how easily his teammates moved about the floor without him.

Great to see the Wears ball out, to see Lane step right in and step right up.

I also hope this game fully dispels the myth that Miller’s Wildcats are a fast, uptempo running team. If Howland saw fit to run M2M most of the game, it’s pretty safe to say that UA plays downtempo and by the other way around.

I think Stover looked great tonight, except for the missed free throws, I thought his presence made a big difference in the paint when it came to D. Especially the last few minutes.

I thought that our team really had no chance, even against a struggling Arizona team, but clearly I was wrong. Maybe I need to stop watching games more often, in case I am cursing the team.

30+ year season ticket holder and supporter of UofA basketball here, just wanted to congratulate you fans on a hard fought victory and to apologize for any of the kids who were chanting while Lamb was down on the court. Obviously a large number of UofA students are from the LA area and kids will be kids, especially when they are home for the holidays and drinking heavily during a rivalry game. There is no excuse for disrespecting a rivals player while they are laying injured on the court. The vast majority of UofA fans are classy, and respectful, so please don’t take the actions of a few morons to represent the fan base as a whole. Personally I always hope that UCLA is a dominant team and only root against them when they play the Cats. The conference suffers when Arizona and UCLA are not top-25 teams. They are the two best West Coast programs,and are the only two teams that people in the East are even aware play basketball on this side of the country.

It’s been a rough year so far for Bruins fans, but there’s a long way to go yet and the pac12 is just that bad that it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Howland turned things around in a big way to finish in the top-3 by the end of the year. Best of luck.

One correction to the OP if I may, this was not in fact the “3rd time all season the Cats have ventured out of McKale”, it was the 6th. The third true road game yes, but there were also 2 games at MSG against St. Johns and MSST and a forgettable performance against Gonzaga in Seattle.

In response to a post up thread:

1. CBH coached one of his best games in a while. Challenged by the loss of players, he used his personnel well. I particularly liked the moment where he “taught” Powell after a bad shot but left him in — no quick hooks last night. He saved his time outs. And, mixed his D’s well. CBH is usually intense — but last night was off the charts. He looked like he’d run a marathon and maybe more. Good job CBH!

2. The team energy was amazing. This was a true “team” victory. All of the players were intense and supportive. I don’t recall one dirty look or disparaging moment — and we’ve seen some this year — displacing blame. They played like a team and seemed to take responsibility as a team. No pouting either.

3. Obviously, we were quicker without Josh. But, I don’t see that we can’t play with the same intensity and cohesion with him. It’s not just Josh who slows this team down. It’s the other guys on the floor who, when they don’t give complete effort, slow it down.

4. We had players play monster minutes AND step up when dead tired. Yes, Zeke takes some dumb shots, but this kid plays hard, motor running for loooong minutes. At the end of the game, it’s clear there’s not much left in the tank, but he uses it all. Before criticizing him, I’d like to know what CBH is saying. There were times when Zeke may have been the best scoring option and he may have been told to shoot — but so soon in the clock? Lamb has an amazing upside. And, is it possible that the Wears are growing into their minutes? Remember, they’ve really not played that much since high school — didn’t play much at UNC and then sat out last year. They really stepped up. (I usually think it wrong to refer to Travis and David as “the Wears” because they really are different and different by game, but last night, they were “one” — tough and intense battling.)

5. Great effort from Stover and Lane. For a while, Lane was our second best rebounder — with very few minutes. Again, necessity prevented the quick hook — and he settled into the game. Stover’s enthusiasm and energy lights things up. Watching him run the court fires me up. I think he will turn into something special. I remember that both LMR and PAA had problems catching the ball early on, and LMR’s FT’s were an issue for a while. I think Stover will be a great senior.

6. The crowd sounded great over the TV. (It sounded great at Maples, too.) Good to hear that.

So, there was a lot of good, last night — not just the victory but the way it was done. I hope we build on it.

The bad? The SPTR’s continue to suck. They’ve embarrassed the conference on national TV in a bowl game and continue to have a negative impact (both ways) on our BB games. Come on, Scott, deal with them.

that all CBH had to do was whack Josh Smith in the head, and we would win. Literally and figuratively this could be his wake up call. We did better without him. I have been saying for the past few games that Smith was killing us. His effort is poor.

I am starting to really like the Wears, and I have always liked Lane. For those fools that want to continue to bash Lane, think about the number of minutes this kid has played in his 3 years. Not many!! And yet, he helped us win against UofA last night. Think of what he could do with more productive minutes. What does Lane give us: he is a better fundamental rebounder than the Wears, he is faster up and down the court than the Wears, and he plays better arms straight up defense than the Wears. Ok, he gets beat off the dribble too easily. I like the rotation of the Wears first, then Lane as the next option. Smith and Stover next. Based on effort. The Wears give a big plus based on freethrow shooting and offensive understanding, and therefore earn the top 2 spots.

This team now has some life.

I haven’t stayed up to watch a Thursday night game for a while and didn’t last night. I’ll see how UCLA does in the next few weeks before I commit to a 1 a.m. bedtime on a “school” night.