LOS ANGELES_Steve Alford, usually first to meet with the media, was last, appearing about 20 minutes later than normal as he stepped out of a Pauley Pavilion corridor on Thursday.
UCLA's basketball coach wasn't running late so much as he had been held up. Four of his players wanted to spend extra time reviewing game footage, seeking ways to improve.
Never mind that the Bruins had beaten top-ranked Kentucky five days earlier, there were issues to address. Too many turnovers. Suspect transition defense. More missed free throws than usual.
The players saw their mistakes unfold, again and again, and desired pointers on correcting them.
"It's just an attentive group," Alford said. "It's a selfless group."
It's also a group that knows early success doesn't come with any guarantees. UCLA defeated top-ranked Kentucky and nationally ranked Gonzaga last season on the way to a losing record.
These Bruins want sustainability amid the hype that has accompanied their best start in a decade. It's a process that will continue Saturday evening when No. 2 UCLA (9-0) plays host to Michigan (7-2) at Pauley Pavilion.
"We know that if we believe all that stuff and we don't improve this week," Alford said, "we'll get beat."
Playing the Wolverines next after the Wildcats might make the Bruins feel as though they've spanned the pages of Aesop's Fables in a week, having faced both the tortoise (Michigan) and the hare (Kentucky).
Michigan plays relentless defense and occasionally scores, entering the game allowing 58.2 points per game, ninth-lowest in the nation. Wolverines opponents are shooting 42.4 percent, including 35.2 percent from three-point range, numbers that probably seem like wishful thinking to Texas after the Longhorns missed 10 of their final 12 shots Tuesday during a 53-50 loss to Michigan.
Most of UCLA's lulls this season have come against teams that like to slow the pace like the Wolverines. The Bruins pushed through just fine during victories over Nebraska and Texas A&M.
"What's intriguing about the upcoming game is what tempo can be played," said Alford, whose team ranks second nationally in scoring at 97 points per game. "Regardless of whether it's a slower tempo or a quicker tempo, we want the ball moving."
That's rarely been a problem for UCLA. The Bruins rank first in the nation in assists per game (24.0) and field-goal accuracy (55.1 percent), prompting Alford to call it his best ball-sharing team in 26 seasons coaching.
If the Michigan game feels like more of a slog than usual, UCLA hopes to derive energy from what is expected to be the largest crowd of the season. One athletics official tweeted that celebrities Vince Vaughn and Jessica Alba were expected to attend, which should please Bruins shooting guard Bryce Alford after he name-dropped Alba earlier this season when talking about all the luminaries who had come to Pauley Pavilion in recent years.
Asked which was his favorite of the group, Alford quickly recovered.
"Pat Riley," he said, smiling. "We'll go with that."
The Bruins have become something of local heroes themselves and will probably be favored in every game until they lose. They also could make a habit of lengthy film sessions.
"If you don't continue to progress and move forward," Bryce Alford said, "then it all goes to waste."
