UCLA's issues against zone defense plagued them last Saturday in their loss at St. John's. The Red Storm presented a small, athletic lineup that gave the Bruins offense fits.
"They play five guards so they cover a lot of space really quickly. They pick up really high so there's constant pressure on the ball. They speed you up. They get you out of your normal flow of offense," said David Wear of the Red Storm.
The Bruins committed 16 turnovers, 10 of those came in the first half.
UCLA (15-12, 8-6 Pac-12) will have to address those issues over the next couple of days as a return to Pac-12 Conference play looms with a visit to Arizona State (8-19, 4-11 Pac-12). The Sun Devils play a matchup zone similar to St. John's although, not as aggressive.
"Arizona State, they sag off more. It's mostly just (pressure) inside the three point line so you're usually able to work (the ball) around the perimeter a little bit, swing the ball easily, and it's easier to pass and hit cutters and see the floor," David said.
Hitting cutters and getting the ball inside was something the Bruins struggled with last Saturday. Joshua Smith made his first four shots in the first half and finished the game with 13 points on six of seven shooting, but the Bruins had a hard time getting him or any of the bigs consistent touches.
"I think we need to make an emphasis on trying to get the ball inside — inside-out just to create gaps and open up dribble penetration in that zone. We struggled with that a little bit with St. John's. We really couldn't penetrate that zone at all, and it hurt us. Hopefully, if we emphasize that this week, we'll be able to carry that over into our game against Arizona State," Travis Wear said.
David added, "they were picking up five (or) six feet outside of the three point line. Basically as soon as you crossed half court they were in your face so it made it hard to make a post entry inside. I saw that we needed to go to a two guard front to sort of relieve some of the pressure. So it was tough to get the ball inside, because they were such a pressuring defense that it was tough to see the open man."
Getting the ball inside was not a problem against Arizona State in the first meeting this season. Smith poured in 18 points off of the bench, while Travis contributed 16 points and seven rebounds. The Bruins will be looking to duplicate that in Tempe.
"I remember Josh had a big game. I remember we played really well as a team. We were moving the ball really good. (Against) that zone, we got (the ball) into the high post. We got inside, and we did a good job picking them apart, and we played really good defense as well so we just need to carry that over and play exactly like we did last time and carry that over into Thursday night."
The Sun Devils are coming off a loss at Washington State in which they only scored eight points in the first half.
