UCLA coach Steve Alford explains what Lonzo Ball's single greatest strength is
Over the first month-and-a-half of the college basketball season, there hasn’t been a better story overall than the UCLA Bruins. With a win over Western Michigan on Wednesday night, the Bruins have now moved to 13-0 on the season and sit at No. 2 in the country.
And there hasn’t been a single player more responsible for the Bruins’ resurgence than Lonzo Ball. The freshman guard from Chino Hills, CA has been the glue that’s brought a talented UCLA club together, as he’s averaging just under 14 points and eight assists per game.
On Wednesday, UCLA coach Steve Alford joined “The Sidelines Podcast” with FS1 college basketball insider Evan Daniels to discuss Ball, along with a number of different topics. And when Evan asked what makes Ball so special, Alford gave a surprising answer.
It wasn’t his passing, scoring or leadership, but actually, something else.
“He just, he’s got that unique ability to understand winning,” Alford said. “I’d have to look, but I want to say, if you don’t count the one loss we had [on a preseason trip] in Australia, or if you want to count it, he’s had one loss in 18 months.
He understands how to win and he’s brought that winning demeanor here. And it’s contagious because I think so many players think winning is predicated on ‘how many [points] do I get?’ Or ‘can I get a double-double.’ And it’s not that way with him. He figures out, before the game or during the game what he’s got to do to win.”
Watching the Bruins, it’s hard to argue with that assessment.
As Alford mentioned, Ball is a stone-cold winner, a guy who led his high school to an undefeated, 35-0 record and state championship last year and now has the Bruins off to a 13-0 start in the 2016-2017 season. It’s also not hard to see how he has impacted the Bruins. While Ball is second in assists nationally (behind only Creighton’s Maurice Watson), he isn’t the only one passing the ball. The Bruins actually lead the country in assists overall, at 23.6 a game. That’s three better than any team in college basketball.
Yet, as Alford also points out, what might be most incredible is that Ball’s impact seems to be a tiny bit different. Against a good Michigan team a few weeks ago, he scored 19 points. He had a freshman assist record with 13 against UC-Riverside a few weeks back. Then there was the 14 point, six rebound, seven assist effort in a win at No. 1 ranked Kentucky.
Oh, and Saturday against Ohio State, there was something else altogether.
“Like I thought in the Ohio State game, it was his best defensive effort. I thought he made a tremendous effort towards winning on that end [of the court]. We’ve seen him do it with getting 13 assists, we’ve seen him doing it by getting 20 points, we’ve seen him doing it by getting 11 rebounds. He can beat you in so many ways.
And the feel he has for the game is tremendous. He knows who should get the ball, when, what time of the game; whether we need foul shooting, or an inside basket or a three-point basket, he’s just got a great feel for that.”
