Actions, not words, matter for UCLA basketball right now

Talk is cheap. Everyone is talking about what needs to happen at UCLA. What matters is actually doing the job right.

Rutgers has had a miserable season in men’s basketball. The Scarlet Knights have two projected NBA lottery picks on their roster and yet have stumbled to the bottom tier of the Big Ten standings. UCLA basketball was supposed to get healthy against Rutgers on Monday night in New Jersey. It did not happen. UCLA gave up 75 points to a not-very-good opponent. The Bruins dropped a fourth straight game and are underwater in the Big Ten. They do not look like an NCAA Tournament team. Their huge wins over Oregon, Arizona, and Gonzaga look like distant memories. These losses are offsetting the good wins UCLA has collected. The Bruins have to turn things around before it is too late. They do have nearly two months to get this done.

They need to stop talking.

Eric Dailey Jr. said this to Ben Bolch of the LA Times:

“We can get back to the team we are. We just gotta have everybody collectively minded to want it. That’s it. We gotta do things that make sense, that helps winning. It can’t just be two, three people, it has to be everybody from the top down to the whole staff.”

Sebastian Mack told Bolch that “I think I feel like we just gotta come together and lock in as a team. I don’t even think much has changed. Our mental focus, I just feel like we gotta apply it more on the court than just think about it and be able to produce it.”

UCLA players and coaches can talk forever about what’s needed to change the season. No words matter. Deeds matter. Action matters. UCLA has to fight desperately for every possession, every loose ball, every basket, and play as though its season is on the line every time it takes the court.

Stop talking. Start doing. Period.