The No. 10 UCLA Bruins (12-1, 1-0 Pac-12) are still riding on the strength of their Battle 4 Atlantis championship run from before Thanksgiving. In the span of three days, they defeated South Dakota State (currently No. 58 in the NET), Tennessee (No. 19 in the NET) and Marquette (RV, four points) for three of their four best wins of the season. The other came in nail-biter against crosstown rival USC (No. 43 in the NET) more recently (Dec. 15).
Those are four quality wins, but 75 percent of them came a while ago and none were over a team that is currently ranked. Perhaps a more telling aspect of UCLA’s resume is its one loss; it came against No. 1 South Carolina by just nine points on Nov. 29. The national consensus seems to be that the Bruins, based on that result, might be able to hang with anybody.
Some of UCLA’s numbers tell a different story though. Can it really duplicate keeping it close against the best teams in the country when it struggles in certain categories, particularly 3-point shooting? Its efficiency from long range is a poor 26.8 percent (283rd in the country).
The Bruins’ next opponent, the Oregon Ducks, may be seven spots lower in the rankings at No. 17, but they have some excellent numbers and are battle-tested having faced three teams that are…
