When UCLA threw out four guards last Saturday, the Wildcats were actually able to match them.
A month ago, that wasn’t even possible. UA had only three perimeter players in their entire rotation of scholarship players when Parker Jackson-Cartwright was out for December nonconference play with an ankle injury, and they still had just four total when Jackson-Cartwright returned for their Pac-12 opener on Dec. 30.
UA can also go big at any time with Markkanen playing small forward, as he did often out of necessity in the early season. It’s just that the Wildcats don’t have to do that any more, even if they run into foul trouble with one of the guards, the way they did with Alkins in the first half on Saturday.
“We can play different styles,” Miller said. “One of the things UCLA does really well is at some point in every game they play a small lineup, and those guards are tremendous players. Sometimes they’ll throw (mobile power forward) T.J. Leaf in there and really have five perimeter players in the game.
"How you handle that is important when you play UCLA. That segment of the game we did a good job, because we went small. Having more depth, more choices helps us.”
