Will G.G. Goloman Be Back to Help on Defense Against Southern Cal?

Some quick points from Steve Alford's presser.

1. GG Goloman may be back. He practiced at full speed and is waiting for final medical clearance. Steve Alford is hopefully to get him back for a few minutes against JustSC tomorrow night. He feels the 6'11" (GG grew an inch in the off season) was a big key to our stretch drive last year and would help us on defense.

Quick thought: GG was our sixth man last year but Bolden and Ali are better this year and with a higher ceiling. That said UCLA could certainly use another big as the eighth man. I just wonder if it is the right thing for GG to come back and not redshirt.

2.  This is a different Just SC. Alford points out that JustSC can now make shots unlike past years when they were only good at taking shots. Alford emphasized that this is a battle of two teams that have a lot of players who can score with JustSC averaging six in double figures and UCLA averaging five.

3.  Defending Home court.  Alford emphasized how UCLA did a good job defending home court against the Arizona schools.

Quick Thought: Steve Alford's Bruins have lost four home games in 2+ seasons. Two to ranked teams (#1 Arizona two years ago and #9 Gonzaga last season) and two when players were suspended (against Oregon two years ago when Adams and Anderson were suspended and Monmouth when Bolden was suspended). Remember last year UCLA did not lose at home in the conference. In addition, Alford has never lost to JustSC.

4.  Thomas Welsh.  A cool thing about Thomas Welsh which Alford noted is that Thomas is now getting rebounds outside his area. This is something he did not do last year.

Quick thought: Welsh has been a stud on the boards in some big games at home such as Kentucky and ASU.  The Kentucky game was not a fluke.

Go Bruins!