Ucla Erans A+ When It Comes To ‘D’

A powerful defensive rebound by George Zidek, followed by a snap outlet pass to Tyus Edney and finished by a feed to Ed O’Bannon for a dunk brings roars of approval from UCLA fans.

Certainly the dunk was great, but in assistant coach Steve Lavin’s mind, the Bruins’ defense that led to the rebound-outlet-pass-dunk was the essential ingredient.

Defense is the most improved aspect for the top-ranked Bruins (25-2) this season and it’s a key reason why they have the nation’s best record and are the No. 1 seed in the West Regional. They’ll meet Florida International in a first-round NCAA game Friday in Boise, Idaho, 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Missouri-Indiana game.

“We’ve done a lot with video tape this year,” Lavin said. “For example, if we show a tape of a guy on the wing doing a great job of denial on defense, and that leads to a deflection, which Tyus picks up and he throws it ahead to Ed, who flushes a dunk on the other end, there is a direct correlation between Toby (Bailey) denying his man the ball and getting the deflection which leads to the dunk.”

The key statistics in UCLA’s defensive charts are opponent fieldgoal percentage and rebound differential. The Bruins finished the regular season first in the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage defense (40.7) and rebound margin (plus 4.9). UCLA led the conference in rebounding margin last season (plus 7.6) but only ranked third in fieldgoal percentage defense.

“This team understands the reason why we’re successful, the reason why we won the Pac-10 and the reason why we’re No. 1 in the country is because we led the Pac-10 in those two statistics,” Lavin said.

Stops. Shutouts. Lockdown. Windshield wiper. Hands. Helpside. Those defensive terms are not new to the Bruins. But unlike late in the season last year when UCLA’s defense lost its pep, the potency this season remains as strong as it was in preseason conditioning drills when Bruins coach Jim Harrick turned the defensive tutoring chores over to Lavin.

Lavin said the most important facet in playing good defense is creating good habits, starting with a fundamentally sound defensive stance. Speed, quickness and balance also are important.

“Coach Harrick is good about that,” Lavin said, “giving you a platform to present your ideas and do a lot of teaching. During timeouts in games we’re always talking about getting shutouts. We want to get stops. We talk about shutting a certain individual’s water off. Like the plumber, you have to come in and tighten up the pipes right now and take care of business.”

Lorenzo Romar, another UCLA assistant coach, said it is easily detectable that the Bruins’ defense is improved over last year.

“In order for your defense to be effective, every guy that’s out there on the floor has to defend at a high level,” Romar said. “If you have four guys out there putting pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure and one guy out there by himself, it looks like the team isn’t playing defense because there’s going to be a dunk. This year we have everybody that’s in the game playing good ‘D.”’

That, according to Lavin, starts with UCLA’s senior leader Ed O’Bannon, who has gotten national attention for his multi-demensional offensive game but scant mention for his defensive prowess. But O’Bannon held Arizona’s All-Pac-10 forward Ray Owes to zero points last month and also limited Arizona State’s Mario Bennett and Washington State’s Mark Hendrickson - two more All-Pac-10 players - below their scoring averages. Numerous times when the coaching staff has wanted to “shut someone’s water off,” they have stuck O’Bannon on him.

Senior point guard Edney also has put the defensive stops on some outstanding offensive players this season, namely Arizona’s Damon Stoudamire and Stanford’s Brevin Knight.

“I definitely think he’s one of the top defensive guards in the country,” said Harrick.

“Defense is 70 percent intensity and 30 percent heart,” Lavin said, “and that’s what Ed O’Bannon is all about. That’s trickled down to all of our players. Because Ed O’Bannon plays with so much intensity and passion, he won’t allow this team to not play with that type of intensity. Because intensity and enthusiasm is contagious.”

Notre Dame coach John McLeod certainly can attest to the Bruins’ intensity. His team trailed by only two points at halftime but was outscored 63-28 in the second half of a 92-55 UCLA victory.

“Their defensive pressure was incredible,” McLeod said after the game. “Once they got rolling, we saw just how strong they are.” dunk. This year we have everybody that’s in the game playing good ‘D.”’

That, according to Lavin, starts with senior leader Ed O’Bannon, who has gotten national attention for his offensive game but scant mention for his defensive prowess. O’Bannon held Arizona’s All-Pac-10 forward Ray Owes to zero points last month and also limited Arizona State’s Mario Bennett and Washington State’s Mark Hendrickson - two more All-Pac-10 players - below their scoring averages.

Senior point guard Edney also has put defensive stops on some outstanding offensive players, namely Arizona’s Damon Stoudamire and Stanford’s Brevin Knight.

“I definitely think he’s one of the top defensive guards in the country,” said Harrick.

“Defense is 70 percent intensity and 30 percent heart,” Lavin said, “and that’s what Ed O’Bannon is all about. That’s trickled down to all of our players.”

Notre Dame coach John McLeod can attest to UCLA’s intensity. His team trailed by only two at halftime but was outscored 63-28 in the second half of a 92-55 UCLA win.

“Their defensive pressure was incredible,” McLeod said after the game. “Once they got rolling, we saw just how strong they are.”