LOS ANGELES — Oftentimes, the starting guards for the UCLA basketball team will find themselves in a healthy discourse. The defensive-minded trio debates which one gets to check the opponents’ best offensive option.
“It comes down to who we’re playing,” senior Kobe Johnson said on Wednesday. “Depends on the sizing, the matchup.”
The topic for discussion between Johnson and his stoic sidekicks, this week, was Caleb Love, the erratic fireball, who leads Arizona in scoring (14.1 points per game) and can torch any defense if he sees his first shot fall. Johnson and junior Dylan Andrews each have experience facing Love over the last few years in Pac-12 battles. But according to Johnson, Louisville transfer Skyy Clark might get the “Love matchup.”
It’s a good problem to have three starters all willing and capable of taking on a challenge such as guarding Love. In reality, when the 24th-ranked Bruins (8-1) take on the Wildcats (4-4) on Saturday afternoon in a neutral-site game at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, each will get the opportunity. And the two who aren’t on Love during a given possession need to stay wary as this Wildcats team is loaded with backcourt scorers.
Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis, who each brought a spark off the bench last season, entered the starting lineup this season and have improved their production. Bradley is averaging 12 ppg, while Lewis is up to 10.3. Arizona also added Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso, who is shooting 50% on 3.8 3-point shot attempts per game.
“They’ve had a changing of the guard,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said.
These aren’t the Oumar Ballo, Pelle Larson, grind-it-out Wildcats who traded regular-season Pac-12 titles with the Bruins and edged them for the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament championship. These Wildcats aren’t as dominant on the glass, or as imposing with their pace. That said, according to Cronin, they’re still trying to play with a familiar style. Similar sets, similar tendencies, just different personnel.
And those players are still trying to learn one another while navigating one of the nation’s toughest early-season schedules.
“They’re 4-4, but metrically, they’re in the Top 25,” Cronin said. “So it tells you they’re a Top 25 team.
Viewing them as such is important for the Bruins, who have had five days to come down from the high of celebrating Andrews’ game-winning, bank-shot 3-pointer against No. 12 Oregon on Sunday in Eugene.
What was ultimately a 73-71 victory was almost a disaster for the Bruins as Andrews forced an entry pass to Tyler Bilodeau that was deflected, intercepted and turned into a Jackson Shelstad 3-pointer that put the Ducks ahead by one with 10 seconds left. Then on the ensuing possession, Andrews stumbled and missed Bilodeau, who was sealing a shorter Shelstad, before recovering and saving the possession with the winning shot.
“We struggle throwing the ball to Tyler Bilodeau, right now,” Cronin said after the Oregon game.
On Saturday, the 6-foot-9 Bilodeau, who excels at shooting mid-range jumpers over smaller defenders, will have an advantage against a Wildcats team whose tallest starter is 6-8. It’s a team effort to put him in those positions, though, as the Bruins’ guards need to throw smoother entry passes.
Bilodeau averaged a team high 15.5 ppg over the first six games, but he has had down scoring nights in two of the last three. With the Bruins embarking on a stretch run that includes Arizona, North Carolina, and No. 8 Gonzaga, it’s vital they get Bilodeau going again as those three teams consist of talented guards who won’t turn the ball over as much as previous opponents and will force the Bruins to score in the half court, where Bilodeau flourishes.
No. 24 UCLA (8-1) AT ARIZONA (4-4)
When: Saturday, noon PT
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix
TV/radio: ESPN2/570 AM