Steve Alford knows it’s coming despite the high-scoring romps, the nonstop ball movement, the feeling that UCLA’s early season euphoria might stretch all the way into late March.
There will be a time when the shots don’t fall so easily, the ball gets stuck in a few players’ hands, the scoreboard defies the Bruins. Only then will UCLA learn whether it has the resolve to go with its talent.
“Adversity hasn’t hit,” said Alford, whose team has defeated its four opponents by an average of 27.8 points, “and that sometimes can help build things or it can rip things apart.