TUCSON, Ariz. >> Lonzo Ball plays like Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet. Just the facts, ma’am.
For such a crowd-pleaser he rarely aspires for the spectacular. The intriguing thing about him, and also about UCLA, is that he leaves you wondering just how much is underneath, in times of emergency.
Maybe those moments are waiting next month. On Saturday at Arizona, everything was well within his power.
UCLA won this one, 77-72, breaking Arizona’s 20-game home winning streak in the least comfortable arena in the Pac-12. McKale Center was designed with migraines in mind. Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, the Wildcats were 67-11 here, best record in Division I. And Arizona led this one 47-41 a couple of possessions into the second half.
But Ball never gave up the reins.
“He dictates the pace of a game as well as anybody,” said coach Steve Alford, which means he can walk as well as run.
At times Ball would wave Bryce Alford over to the other baseline so he could feed Thomas Welsh for those sweet-spot buckets. At the biggest time, near the end when Arizona was desperately pressing, Ball was like the ninth-nning closer who walks to the mound with the world in his pocket.
“It’s a big thing to have your point guard take the ball out, and then get the return pass, and then find the best free-throw shooter,” Bryce Alford said. “He’s as smart a player as I’ve ever played with. It’s a great feeling knowing he’s back there.”
“Every time you play you want to win,” Ball said, “and you always want to beat a team that’s beaten us.”
Three times have done that to the Bruins this season. UCLA won the payback each time. They are 26-3 with two home games left against Pac-12 punching bags.
“I think when we’re playing our game we’re a very hard team to beat,” Welsh said.
Their game on Saturday involved 14 offensive rebounds, four by Welsh, who shot 7 for 10. That translated to 13 more shots.
“The overall physicality of the game really hurt us,” said Arizona’s Parker Jackson-Cartwright, and yes, he was speaking of the Bruins.
Their game also involved a 3-2 zone that persuaded the Wildcats to miss 10 of 12 3-point shots in the second half.
“We got beat on the boards by 12 in the first game,” said TJ Leaf, “so we really worked on that. I think even Bryce got his career high in rebounds.”
Senior Alford was standing right there to hear the freshman.
“I got six today, but my high is seven,” he replied.
Leaf outplayed fellow freshman Lauri Markkanen, which was another difference from the loss on Jan. 21. Aside from Allonzo Trier, who shot 11 for 14 and scored 28, the Wildcats shot 15 for 37.
“Well, we’ve been getting killed (by the media) about our defense all year,” said Bryce Alford. “So you work on it more. I think our defense is pretty dang good.”
“It was a pattern of ‘they score on us, we score on them,’” Leaf said. “You don’t want to be known for that.”
“When you get stops, that’s how you know that (zone) defense is working,” Ball said, “and today we got stops.”
As for Ball, he kills you softly. Triple-doubles are such a thing these days, and Ball’s Saturday stats were typically muted. He had 11 points, six rebounds and eight assists. He also came breathtakingly close to drawing a fourth foul early in the second half, which forced his coach to choose the zone.
But sometimes you see all the way to the bottom of Ball’s game. After a rough end to the first half and a lot of halftime discussion about composure and patience, Ball came upcourt, saw the traffic clear, and absolutely streaked to the bucket for a reverse layup.
Later, he fed Aaron Holiday for two 3-pointers that took the lead to 67-57. They weren’t no-look passes, they weren’t delivered with any condiments whatsoever. But they were quick and on time and into Holiday’s shooting platform. A hard thing was made to look easy.
Recently Lonzo’s dad LaVar has said some grandiose things. He said Lonzo was better than Steph Curry — “put my boy on Golden State and put Curry on UCLA and see what happens,” he said. He was quoted as saying Ball should play for the Lakers next year.
Lonzo is customarily taciturn when asked about it. “I just go out there and play basketball,” he said.
Earl Woods used to talk about Tiger Woods the same way. As it turned out, he was understating.
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