LOS ANGELES — Matt Barnes waltzed into Pauley Pavilion about a minute into Tuesday night’s game, taking his seat just under the basket the UCLA men’s basketball team was shooting on in the first half.
That meant, in the second half, he got an up-close-and-personal view of a Bruins defense that has forced a nation’s best 18.6 turnovers per game, a rate that, in the last 25 years of UCLA basketball, is second to only Barnes’ 1998-99 freshman season, when the Bruins forced 20.2.
Talent and ball-handling prowess across college basketball has only improved since then. That doesn’t seem to matter to these Bruins, who boast the guard depth to full-court press for an entire game and step into passing lanes with a timely peskiness.
On Tuesday, the 18th-ranked Bruins (10-1) forced 17 turnovers in a 111-75 victory over Prairie View A&M (1-10). They, however, let the Panthers’ offense score more than they did a much better Arizona team on Saturday in Phoenix.
The Bruins jumped out to a 21-8 lead before a six-minute stretch in which they didn’t record a field goal allowed the Panthers to get the margin back within single digits.
Aday Mara’s presence helped the Bruins build on their lead just before halftime. He found Skyy Clark on a backdoor cut for a layup, then his rim-protection on the other end allowed Clark to strip the ball from a Panthers ball-handler. He grabbed offensive rebounds on the next two possessions, passing the first out to Dylan Andrews for a 3-pointer and finishing the second with a put-back dunk.
The Bruins extended their advantage, scoring 26 points in the first seven minutes of the second half en route to their highest-scoring outing of the season.
Andrews led the Bruins with 21 points and Tyler Bilodeau added 18, continuing his trend of being the Bruins’ most consistent source of half-court offense this season.
It was his hook shot that put the Bruins up by three with 1:42 remaining on Saturday against Arizona. And on Tuesday, he scored from all three levels.
Keeping Bilodeau in rhythm will be crucial since this UCLA team can struggle when it is not creating turnovers or getting out in transition.
Finding secondary sources of half-court offense will be crucial as UCLA faces more talented teams that take better care of the ball. Sebastian Mack, who played just three minutes on Tuesday, has been the closest thing to that. Andrews, who bounced back from a four-point dud against Arizona, has also been that, at times, but has been inconsistent.
Additional options will have to emerge.
Between a pair of one-possession wins against No. 10 Oregon and Arizona, and upcoming games against blue-bloods North Carolina and Gonzaga, Tuesday seemed the perfect scenario for a trap game. UCLA didn’t fall victim to that but seemed to leave any sense of urgency in Phoenix.
They Bruins will need to rediscover that before take their nine-game winning streak to New York City for a neutral-site game against the Tar Heels on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
More to come on this story.