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UCLA Basketball: Bruins relying on outside shooting, but will it work in the long run?

By Mike Regalado

SACRAMENTO, CA - MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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SACRAMENTO, CA – MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA – MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

The UCLA basketball team has been shooting from behind the three-point line in Pac-12 play a lot more, but will it help their efforts going forward?

It is no secret that the UCLA basketball team is still trying to find their indentity on offense. The Bruins are heavily relying on veterans Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh to carry the load while their youth-laden squad tries to get up to speed and find the UCLA way. In several games this season, there have been excellent collective team efforts, but mostly, it has been the Holiday-Welsh show.

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UCLA started the season trying to emulate the uptempo offense that was executed to perfection with Lonzo Ball last season as the Bruins were first in the nation with 89.8 points per game. They are close to that feat this season with 84.1 ppg (22nd in the nation), though both teams have taken different paths to their high-scoring efforts.

It is clear that these Bruins are a differnet squad from last season with Lonzo… and Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton and TJ Leaf… but they are doing a bang up job with Holiday and Welsh (and to an extent Kris Wilkes) as the only consistent scorers.

The big difference is that the Bruins are shifting from the up-and-down style of play to more of an outside shooting game plan, at least that is what we have been witness to in the last few games. The interesting part is that the Bruins lost four good three-point shooters as the aforementioned Ball, Alford and Leaf all shot over 41% last season.