UCLA Basketball: A rough road lies ahead in December
The UCLA basketball team hits the road for their first true road game at Michigan on Saturday morning. Following that they have two big games before the start of Pac-12 play. Tough, yes, but these next few weeks will show us exactly what type of team these Bruins are.
The UCLA basketball team is eight games into the season. It should have been nine, but the wild weather in Los Angeles sparked a wild fire just north of Westwood on Wednesday, forcing UCLA to cancel the game against Montana. (If you are at all interested in how the game might have been, check out this hilarious Twitter thread by the Montana basketball team HERE)
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It would have been the fourth game in a row at Pauley Pavilion in by far the easiest stretch of he Bruins’ schedule. Unfortunately they will have to do with three, going undefeated in that stretch. Though UCLA struggled a bit in the first two agaisnt UC Irvine and Cal State Bakersfield, they blew the doors wide open against Detroit Mercy.
It would have been nice for UCLA to get one more game, considering the road that lies ahead, but as they have already done a few times this season (arrests, indefinite suspensions and players leaving), they need to pull themselves up by their boot straps and forge ahead.
Time to get to work. 🏀💪🏽 #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/48qJ3i4W5L
— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) December 8, 2017
So now, the Bruins get ready for their third contest away from Westwood and their first true road game against Michigan.
That’s right, on Saturday UCLA is not playing to a half empty arena, performing in front of four different semi-excited fan bases in a preseason tournament. No. They are going against a team with a proud history in an arena full of (respectfully) rabid fans that are going to give the UCLA basketball team the business whilst cheering on their beloved Wolverines. It should be intense.
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It is going to be tough, no doubt about that, but ready or not, the toughest stretch of the non-conference season is upon them… and it gets so much harder after that.
A week after their mambo in Michigan, they return to to Pauley Pavilion to do battle with the #17 Cincinnati Bearcats, a tough defensive team that UCLA catapulted out of the NCAA Tournament last March, so it is safe to say Cincinnati will be looking for revenge.
The Bruins get a cupcake after that game with South Dakota coming to Westwood, but that’s basically practice for the next and final non-conference game on December 23. Against Kentucky.
Oh boy. This is going to be interesting, especially since the following week, Pac-12 play begins and as we have seen in the non-conference season, not one Pac-12 team is standing out except for the unexpected 7-0 Arizona State Sun Devils. With USC and Arizona stumbling early, the Pac-12 is anybody’s for the taking.
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If UCLA pulls together as they have done in the last few games, then they should have a decent strecth heading into Pac-12 play. If they played the way they did in their first few games, in short, it could be a long season.