UCLA, Afflalo slumping as NCAA tournament nears

                    

	Aaron Afflalo scored three points, ending his streak of 29 consecutive games in double figures. Ben Liebenberg/WireImage.com
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LOS ANGELES -- Arron Afflalo had never felt like this before. It was a feeling so numbing that he needed to stand up and soak it in. While the rest of his teammates sat in awed disbelief during the waning seconds of their 76-69 overtime loss to Cal during the Pac-10 tournament, Afflalo stood at the end of the bench with his arms crossed and a glazed look on his face.

It had been over a year since the Bruins suffered back-to-back losses. Even longer since Afflalo was held to a scoring line so poor (three points, zero rebounds and one assist). And Afflalo can't even remember the last time he felt as empty walking off a basketball court.

Afflalo was so disgusted with his performance and the team's loss that he turned around and walked into the locker room as soon as the game was over, ignoring the rest of his teammates and coaches as they walked over and congratulated Cal on the win.

"I really don't know what to think right now, this isn't really something I'm accustomed to" said Afflalo, who was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year this week. "This was the worst game of my career and considering the stage and the stakes it couldn't come at a worst time."

The timing of UCLA's current slump was the biggest concern for UCLA coach Ben Howland after the game. After clinching the conference title with an impressive win over Washington State in Pullman last Thursday, the Bruins have looked lackadaisical and uninspired in losses to Washington and California; two teams in the bottom half of the conference.

"I'm going back right now and watch film with my staff and I'm sure we're not going to see any silver lining as we watch the game," said Howland. "That's how we're playing right now. It's March 8 and that's how we're playing. We've played sub-par against two teams that have really come out and played well against us. "

Before the Pac-10 tournament began there was talk that as many as seven teams had a chance to make the NCAA tournament, Cal, however, clearly wasn't one of them. Yet the Golden Bears, after losing 10 of their last 12 games to finish the regular season with a 14-16 record, are now two games away from the Big Dance after blowing out Oregon State and upsetting UCLA. Their next game is against Oregon, a team they beat less than a month ago.

"This is indicative of how good the Pac-10 is this year," said Howland. "Our margin between winning and losing and being in first place and out of it is very small. We barley beat Arizona State on the road and they finished in last place. It's something we're going to have to get back and improve from and I never think it's too late to improve."

The only thing on UCLA's side, not surprisingly, right now is history. The last time UCLA lost back-to-back games was last February when the Bruins dropped road games to Washington and USC before the Bruins reeled off 12 straight wins to get to the NCAA tournament final. The turning point came for that team came after UCLA's lost to the Trojans when Howland put his team through their toughest practice of the season 48 hours after the loss.

"That practice afterward was the best practice since I've been the coach at UCLA in terms of how hard we went and how competitive it was," Howland said last year. "That really carried over."

Howland is confident of a repeat performance when he gathers the team at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday. "We will have our best practice of the year Saturday morning," he said. "For sure."