One dribble per second is the consensus.
For every pair of steps a player strides down the court, they get one dribble, and it takes one second.
Four seconds on the clock? Four dribbles from coast to coast.
When a team can’t advance the ball down the sideline via timeout, this is the down-to-the-wire reality – as sophomore guard Dylan Andrews can attest after UCLA men’s basketball’s Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal last week.
But a week prior, UCLA women’s basketball possessed the power of the timeout twice in its double-overtime loss to USC.
In the two end-of-game instances with 2.1 and 1.8 seconds remaining, the Bruins drew up plays in the halfcourt.
With the final possession and a chance to win the game, something then went awry – twice. UCLA failed to get a shot up while it was still debating dribbles and passes as the clock expired.
The game extended to overtime. After the second extra period, the Bruins lost in heartbreaking fashion to their rivals in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals.
“We were a hurting group,” said coach Cori Close. “We needed to work through the anger, disappointment, sadness. And then we needed to let it refocus us.”
With the Round of 64 matchup set for Saturday, it’s of the utmost importance for UCLA to finds ways to recalibrate. A trip to the Pac-12 championship game is no longer on the line, but the chance to extend the postseason is.
And the Bruins will have to execute down the stretch in order to survive and advance in the one-and-done nature of March Madness, especially when the shot clock turns off and the seconds start winding down.
Only one of UCLA’s players – freshman forward Amanda Muse – hasn’t yet experienced an NCAA Tournament, a striking contrast to last season’s Sweet 16 squad that featured five freshmen from the No. 1 recruiting class. This year’s sophomores have seemingly dodged the “sophomore slump,” each making significant strides in their respective games.
Guards Kiki Rice and Londynn Jones are consistent starters for the Bruins, each averaging more minutes and points per game than last season. Sophomore forwards Christeen Iwuala, Gabriela Jaquez and Lina Sontag have also stepped up immensely in the front court after senior forward Emily Bessoir tore her ACL again in November.
The returning Bruins have more games, starts and minutes under their belts to equip them for the pressure of March Madness. But they also have valuable recent experience to draw from – besides the rawness of the latest rivalry disappointment.
Against then-No. 16 Utah on Jan. 22 and then-No. 11 Oregon State on Feb. 16, UCLA allowed a layup down the stretch to buoy its opponents in tight, single-possession matchups.
In Salt Lake City, the Bruins were up 72-70 with under four seconds in regulation. Then a back-door layup with 3.4 seconds remaining sent the two teams to overtime, which the Utes commanded from the tip. A late 3-pointer from Jones to cut the deficit to five points ultimately proved futile as Utah secured the upset.
Up at Corvallis, the game didn’t necessitate overtime, but the decision dwindled down to the final moments. The lead changed four times in the final 10 seconds of the game, and after sophomore center Lauren Betts nailed a mid-range jumper, the deal appeared finalized.
But the Bruins sagged on Beaver guard Talia von Oelhoffen beyond the arc with 1.1 seconds left, allowing her to knock down a clean look from the left wing as the buzzer sounded.
Each of UCLA’s six losses – down to the wire or otherwise – has come at the hands of a ranked team, with the exception of a dropped decision against Washington State at home Jan. 28 following its 20-point fourth-quarter surge.
And while the NCAA Tournament doesn’t exclusively feature ranked teams, it is chock-full of programs with the top NET ratings in the nation or the momentum to capture a conference championship. The gauntlet of the Pac-12 was the ultimate preparation for the rigor of March Madness and the Bruins’ Albany 2 bracket featuring No. 1 seed Iowa, No. 2 seed LSU and No. 5 seed Colorado.
UCLA’s three late-game experiences may have ended in disappointment, but the fate of the season will lay in turning that tide. The most successful teams in the postseason are those that are amply prepared for the widest array of situations, from player absences to foul trouble or a two-second chance to clinch a game.
The Bruins have been in the title conversation for the entire season, climbing to the No. 2 spot for seven consecutive weeks and boasting the most wins against top-25 teams heading into the postseason. But the ability for teams to remain composed in crunch time and execute game-winning plays is the hallmark of a tournament-level, Final Four-contending program.
And that’s not lost on Close.
“We’ve done three segments (of late-game situations) every single practice,” Close said. “Studying not only ourselves and looking back at what we’ve been doing in games and practices, but also other teams and what little tweaks we could make. … Our staff and team have responded extremely well this week, and I think we will be crisper as we move forward.”
After returning to Westwood following their Pac-12 tournament loss, the Bruins are benefitting from a two-week hiatus from competition until the start of the NCAA Tournament. As the end of the academic quarter approaches, Close said her staff is intentional every year about the best way to approach the time off, and it pays dividends by tournament time.
“Every year, I’ve felt like we’ve made really big strides mentally, tactically, emotionally,” Close said. “We’re able to help our players be really good student-athletes.”
Only time will tell if the Bruins will be prepared to translate past lessons to the biggest stage in college basketball come the Big Dance.
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