No. 4 UCLA faces California in Pac-12 home opener

UCLA didn’t enjoy a total reprieve from coursework over its winter break. The Bruins have been busy with an informal lesson in communication studies.

Coach Steve Alford wants his players to talk more on defense as part of their efforts to improve the team’s one perceptible weakness.

“It’s as simple as, ‘I’ve got your help left, I’ve got your help right,’ things like that,” UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton said.

Alford has asked the Bruins to be particularly chatty about the way they handle screens. The team is also trying to involve more weak-side defenders with its ball pressure, though that tactic has led to some recent slippage in rebounding.

UCLA’s latest discussion group is scheduled for Thursday evening at Pauley Pavilion, where the fourth-ranked Bruins (14-1 overall, 1-1 in Pac-12 Conference play) will play host to California (10-4, 1-1) in their conference home opener.

UCLA ranks No. 79 in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, which factors in the strength of an opponents’ offense, according to analyst Ken Pomeroy. The Bruins might be able to pick up a few pointers from Cal, which leads the Pac-12 and ranks No. 7 nationally in the same category.

The Golden Bears top the Pac-12 in scoring defense (allowing 60.3 points per game), field-goal defense (37.5%) and three-point defense (28.5%), setting up a battle of extremes considering the Bruins lead the conference in scoring (93.9), field-goal accuracy (54.2%) and are tied with Washington for the top mark in three-point accuracy (42.4%).

Cal’s defensive prowess was on display last week during a victory over Arizona State when it held the Sun Devils to 18 points below their scoring average and gave up one field goal over the final 9 minutes 43 seconds while closing the game on a 21-4 run.

“Some of it’s driven by tempo,” Alford said of the Golden Bears’ defensive success. “If the game’s played at a very slow tempo, I think that’s going to favor them. So we have to speed the game up a little bit, we’ve got to get it into open court and that’s not easy because they do a very good job of taking transition away and making you play in the half court.”

UCLA recently persevered through a similar slog against Oregon State for its first conference victory, breaking away after the Beavers had tied the score early in the second half. But Cal is far more dangerous offensively because of sophomore forward Ivan Rabb and freshman guard Charlie Moore, who are each averaging 15 points a game.

The Bruins’ primary issues defensively have been sustaining pressure, guarding the three-point line and getting hurt in transition after turnovers.

“For us it’s really about the easy baskets,” UCLA guard Bryce Alford said. “When we get teams in the half court, we’ve been doing a pretty decent job of making them take the shots we want them to take. It’s more about making silly mistakes, not having guys get back in transition and stuff like that.

“We’re getting there, we’re making strides in the right direction and I think as this season goes along we’re going to keep continuing to get better in that area.”

UCLA guard Lonzo Ball said the Bruins need to develop the same sharing mind-set on defense that has allowed them to score so often when they have the ball.

“Once we all lock in and play for one another on the defensive end the way we play on offense,” Ball said, “we’ll be a scary team.”

::

UCLA UP NEXT

THURSDAY VS. CALIFORNIA

When: 6.

Where: Pauley Pavilion.

On the air: ESPN; Radio: 570.

Update: UCLA is already in a better spot than it was at this point last season, when it dropped its first two Pac-12 games on the way to a losing season. But Bruins guard Bryce Alford said the team’s first loss of the season, last week at Oregon, could have some benefits. “Sometimes it’s good just to see what that feels like,” Alford said. “You get so used to winning that sometimes guys maybe forget about what it’s like to lose and it kind of puts that edge back into you of, ‘Hey, we don’t want to feel this feeling again,’ so it’s just trying to figure out ways to look at tape and figure out what we did wrong and just move forward from there.” Guard Prince Ali and forward Alex Olesinski, who both recently returned to practice after recovering from significant injuries, announced they would redshirt this season.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch