Steve Alford Presser: The Best Defense is a Good Offense

Okay, Steve Alford did not exactly say that. He did say that offense helps defense.

Thanks to Blair Angulo and BruinReportOnline for sharing the video of Steve Alford's weekly press conference.

Talking about the CSUN game, Alford said:

Defensively we did some good things....I am not so much worried about the points and [all] that as [much as] how we are getting scored on....Transition defense was our biggest concern but a lot of that had to do with 20 turnovers. Gave up 20 points because of our offensive mistakes....Turnovers really hurt our defense.

It has long been said in sports that defense is key. Defense keys the offense. Defense wins championships, etc.

In fairness to Alford, we are going to score and give up more points just by the style of UCLA's game and the desire to run.

92 possessions, 12 more possessions than in any game all of last year. Playing at the pace we want to play at.  We are going to have more possessions in our game if team's are going to run with us....Did not have the bodies to play [up tempo] last season like we did in year one and year two....Create fundamental habits on defense.  We want the game up tempo.

Alford emphasized this was a smart team that adjusted after struggling in the first half against a new defense against CSUN.

Good basketball IQ team....On CSUN did not handle the pressure defense well in the first half, adjusted in the second half.

That intelligence will be tested a bit against San Diego which plays a Princeton style offense and will be the first time UCLA faces a zone.

A couple hard news tidbits. Alex Olesinski and Ike Anigbogu are likely are out for 7-10 more days. Alford is hopeful to get them back for the Long Beach State game but certainly for the Anaheim tournament.

Also Alford was happy with everyone but took a moment to say how he likes the four guard lineup to closeout games because "those four guards are such elite players. They know how to handle it. They know how to value the ball and shoot free throws."

But back to the offense. Alford, rightly, emphasized this team has found different ways to score over a 100 in the first two games:

119 by utilizing the three point line, in game one 102 in game 2 not utilizing the three point line but utilizing the free throw line and driving....Been 20 years since seven guys were in double figures.

So this is a team that will score a lot of points. Come Kentucky and the PAC 12 will that be not enough to prove that the best defense is a good offense? We'll see.

Go Bruins!