Alabama Basketball: Five keys to beating UCLA Bruins

Alabama Basketball: There are five keys for the Crimson Tide to advance to the Elite Eight over the UCLA Bruins.

Anyone not picking Alabama Basketball to win over UCLA is in a small minority. Every one of six experts picking for CBS Sports chose the Crimson Tide. Though the Tide is widely favored, UCLA is no pushover. The Bruins are playing their best at the right time. Nate Oats’ team should win and it will if it performs well in five keys to the game.

Alabama Basketball Key No. 1

Keep Herbert Jones on the floor. In the Tide’s last game, it had nine fouls. Four of them were assessed against the Tide’s most important player. Late in the season, the Crimson Tide senior has had a tendency to take some defensive chances, leading to unwise fouls. He needs to be more patient going forward.

Key No. 2

Throughout the season a UCLA weakness is defending threes. Stats from teamrankings.com show opponents have made 34.2 percent of threes, but in the last three games, the average has been 24.1 percent. The Tide does not need to be ‘three-happy’ leading to ill-advised attempts. In Saturday’s Sweet Sixteen games, teams struggled making threes. One reason was tough defense. Another was probably mental tightness in the shooters as a byproduct of being on a big stage. Taking in rhythm threes and reaching its seasonal average of 35.5 percent should be enough for the Crimson Tide.

Key No. 3

Forcing turnovers is another UCLA weakness. The Bruins turned opponents over on 17.1 percent of possessions and just 15.8 percent in the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide has been good lately with manageable turnovers per possession. The Tide’s fast pace makes it a bit more turnover prone than many top teams. Staying at or below its season average of turnovers on 18 percent of possessions will be important.

Key No. 4

The Bruins are less reliant on threes than the Crimson Tide. With their deliberate pace, UCLA only takes about 18, threes per game. But they can make shots outside the arc. They are 37.4 percent for the season and 42.9 percent in the NCAA Tournament. The Tide is good at defending the long ball and it needs to keep the Bruins at or below their season average.

Key No. 5

Other than keeping Herbert out of trouble, this might be the game’s most important key. UCLA will try to play at one of the most patient tempos of any Tide opponent this season. One of their strengths is offensive efficiency. Controlling the backboards is a way to counter the UCLA pace. The Tide has been great on the glass in recent games, getting offensive rebounds on 40.2 percent of its misses. That is much higher than its season average of 30.3 percent. Getting into the high thirties against the Bruins will be important.

While the game will likely be a single-digit, points margin, Alabama Basketball has more strengths than UCLA. If the Tide executes as it is capable, an Elite Eight matchup against Michigan or FSU will be next.