INDIANAPOLIS — No one wants to stay in a hotel room, with few escapes, for two weeks. The confines are small, the trappings are not familiar or homey and the bed, simply put, is not your own.
But then again, if the price of checking out is losing in the NCAA Tournament, the hotel suddenly becomes not too much of a factor. The longer the stay, the more you and your teammates are winning.
“We’re all there together,” UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez said. “That’s something that you’re not always gonna get.”
The 11th-seeded Bruins will try to extend their trip in Indianapolis as they take on second-seeded Alabama in the Sweet 16 at 4:15 p.m. Sunday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Crimson Tide (26-6) is a unique opponent for the Bruins. Alabama has taken more 3-pointers than any other team in the country this season, making 35.5% of 961 attempts. The Crimson Tide is also 27th in the country in offensive rebounding, averaging 12.5 per game.
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin marveled at this unique convergence of skill sets, noting that typically spreading the floor leads to fewer second-chance opportunities by virtue of not being in the paint.
Cronin likened Alabama’s high-volume shooting offense to a spread attack in football in how thin it stretches a defense.
“They make you defend the whole field, so it really spreads your defense out. It challenges you in so many ways,” said Cronin, clad in a navy letterman’s jacket modeled after one of UCLA legend John Wooden’s styles. “Where they really kill you is when they do miss and they get it, turn, throw it back out and make it.”
But defense is where the Bruins (20-9) have seen the most improvement this March. Cronin has described UCLA’s defense as “elite” in its last five halves of basketball.
The Bruins are flying around the court, closing out shooters to give them difficult looks, disrupting the opposing flow with deflections and quickly throwing themselves on the hardwood after loose balls.
“Playing team defense is something that’s definitely changed from regular season to now,” Jaquez said. “I think that was the biggest one, just our defensive intensity and team defense and staying in front.”
Alabama plays pretty good defense, too. The Crimson Tide’s traditional numbers like points per game aren’t too impressive, but that’s what happens when you play at such a high pace.
Alabama is also ranked third in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defense, largely due to holding opponents to 93.1 points per 100 possessions and creating blocks and steals on 22.1% of opponent possessions.
“They got long athletes and they can get after you,” Cronin said. “They’re not a pack line team, they’re a ball pressure team.”
In terms of style, it’s not dissimilar from the team UCLA beat in the previous round, but Abilene Christian did not have the same length as Alabama, which starts four players 6-foot-5 or taller.
If UCLA can match up with the Tide, the Bruins will extend their hotel stay a couple days longer for the program’s first trip to the Elite Eight since 2008.
“For us, the no travel has been great and just focus on our rest and get a mental break as well as a physical break,” Cronin said.
No. 11 UCLA vs. No. 2 Alabama
When: 4;15 p.m. PT Sunday
Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
TV/Radio: TBS/AM 1150
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