UCLA Basketball: Bryce Alford, The Veteran the Bruins Need

The UCLA Basketball team has veteran leadership from senior shooting guard Bryce Alford who is a big part of the Bruins’ success.

In the age of one-and-dones, it is hard solidify a foundation from year-to-year, especially among power five conferences. The better the player, the better chance he has of going pro after one year of college hoops.

That makes it hard to plan for the next season unless a team has veterans that have over two years of experience, which seem to be rare unless you are a mid-major program. That is something UCLA Basketball has struggled with in the last few years, but that has changed as certain pieces have fallen into place this year.

With addition of superstar freshmen Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf, UCLA has quite possibly become the best offensive team in the nation. Though Ball and Leaf have gotten the majority of the attention, they would not be where they are without some veteran leadership, especially from senior Bryce Alford.

Alford was the floor general of the Bruins last year and it did not go exactly as planned. The extra responsibility might have been too much for him to handle, being both a distributor and an effective shooting guard. Since Ball has joined and relieved Alford of PG duties, the senior has been able to solidify his spot as a reliable shooting guard.

Here are Alford’s shooting percentage averages for his first three years at UCLA: .384, .396 and .385. Through 18 games of his senior season, Alford is shooting a remarkable .500. That also includes a jump in three-point field goal percentage of .367 from last season to .470 this year.

Currently, Alford is leading the Pac-12 with 3.4 made three-pointers per game. In his last contest against Colorado, Alford made 9 three-pointers to add to the team’s record of 19 threes in a game.

So you see, Alford is just as important, if not more, than Ball and Leaf. Why do I say this? Alford not only has the skills to lead this team, he has the knowledge.

Alford will be an important piece of the puzzle later in the season. With three years of experience under his belt, Alford understands the demands the long college basketball season can put on a player and having him lead his teammates into the postseason with that mentality will be vital to UCLA’s success.