Hamilton is right on target for the Bruins
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Isaac Hamilton can sometimes judge his night on the first shot.
Making it, he said, “keeps me in a groove.”
It was a good sign then, when UCLA’s game Wednesday began with Hamilton’s confident three- pointer from the top of the key. He bounded down the court, as if on a pogo stick. The second half began similarly, with Hamilton’s four- point play, a three- pointer he made while falling to the court, plus the free throw.
It ended with Hamilton on the free- throw line, the
game in hand. In between, he hardly missed in UCLA’s 8273 win over Oregon State. Hamilton made 10 of 14 shots for 25 points.
Hamilton has scored in double f igures in 15 consecutive games, and his maturation into a confident, consistent scorer has allowed UCLA ( 12- 7, 3- 3 Pac- 12) to weather off nights from its typical bellwethers, Bryce Alford and Tony Parker.
Alford scored 19 points, but missed 10 of 15 shots, and Parker made two of eight for eight points, but the Bruins still easily dispatched the Beavers ( 11- 6, 2- 4). Thomas Welsh helped with 10 points and 12 rebounds. He didn’t miss a field goal or free throw.
“I don’t think it’s a team where you just sit on Tony, because then Tom hurts you,” UCLA Coach Steve Alford said. “And you can’t sit on Bryce or Aaron [ Holiday] or Isaac will hurt you. So offense isn’t our problem.”
No, the problem has been the defense. After a 14- point loss to USC last Wednesday, UCLA’s coaches spent the week hammering the team for allowing what Steve Alford called an “astronomically high” amount of points — 86 per game during Pac- 12 play. Alford held unusually long practices on Friday and Saturday, working on fixes.
“Those were some brutal practices,” Hamilton said.
“They pushed us hard,” Welsh said. “And we needed it too.”
The renewed focus paid off. UCLA gave up 11 points in the f irst 10 minutes of the game. The 73 points allowed was its best defensive effort since holding McNeese State to 53 points on Dec. 22.
The key for UCLA, though, will be defensive consistency. UCLA is 8- 0 when it holds teams to fewer than 80 points, but it had done that only once in conference play entering Wednesday.
Gyorgy Goloman, who played two minutes against USC in his return from injury, logged 17 minutes and scored three points. Alford used Goloman and guard Noah Allen often as he searched for defensive production from the bench.
UCLA captured the early lead when Oregon State’s offensive leader, Gary Payton II picked up two fouls fewer than four minutes into the game. UCLA quickly embarked on a 10- 0 run. He sat for nearly 10 minutes. When he reentered, UCLA controlled the game. Payton f inished with 17 points and seven assists.
UCLA ended the first half on a step- back buzzer beater from Holiday, who traversed the court in fewer than six seconds, and began the second half with Hamilton’s four- point play. Its second half lead swelled to as much as 18.
“For 36 minutes, we were really good defensively,” Steve Alford said.
With four minutes left, UCLA had limited Oregon State to 56 points. Then UCLA sunk into what Steve Alford called, with some contempt, its “NFL prevent defense,” and gave up 17 more points.
“Our goal is 65 or fewer,” Hamilton said. “And we’re giving up 20- plus points more than that.”
So Wednesday was an improvement. But there is still work to be done.