UCLA finds outlet for better point-guard play in 77-45 win over Cal State Northridge

Last week, UCLA Coach Steve Alford gathered his team’s point guards and hashed out a new plan.

Up to that point, freshman Aaron Holiday and junior Bryce Alford had shared point-guard duties on the fly. It had led to confusion. No one seemed to know where to throw the outlet pass. Both had been slow to break out in transition.

So the three met to figure out how to eliminate the uncertainty. They decided Bryce Alford would start as the point guard in the Bruins’ next game, Sunday against Cal State Northridge, and they’d “see how it went,” Bryce Alford said.

It went well. With more focused roles, UCLA routed CSUN, 77-45, at Pauley Pavilion.

Bryce Alford had eight points and 10 assists. Holiday scored 13 points with four assists.

The blowout win was a tune-up, of sorts, for the gantlet that lies ahead. Three of the next five games are against top-10 opponents, beginning with No. 1 Kentucky on Thursday at Pauley.

The Bruins did an imitation of the dissection Kentucky performed on them last season, when the Wildcats scored the first 24 points on their way to an 83-44 blowout. UCLA (4-3) scored the first 14 points Sunday, and CSUN (2-5) bookended the game with offensive ineptitude.

The Matadors needed almost seven minutes to score. And they would’ve gone the final 7 minutes 28 seconds of the game without a point, if not for a toss by Olalekan Ajayi that went in off the backboard.

The Bruins held CSUN to 29.3% shooting from the field and induced 15 turnovers.

It was their best defensive performance of a season that has been rocky, including disappointing losses to Monmouth and Wake Forest.

“Those were two games we thought were right there for us,” Steve Alford said.

Sunday’s was never a strong candidate for another upset — afterward, Northridge Coach Reggie Theus vented, “The UCLA players played OK, but they didn’t have to play hard.” But there were signs of progress.

The division of duties between Holiday and Bryce Alford freed the transition offense.

The switch, Steve Alford said, didn’t mean Bryce Alford was the primary point guard, even though he started off in that role. Rather, the coaches would better communicate which player was the principal ball-handler throughout the game. Steve Alford said he wanted to make sure the offense was “not a free-for-all.”

Bryce Alford said the difference is not “so much who’s handling. It’s more just knowing.”

Forward Tony Parker said the change created a more dynamic offense and easier outlet passes.

“You know, sometimes it doesn’t work, but it gives me a chance to show off my Magic Johnson skills,” the 6-foot-9 Parker said.

Parker recorded his fifth double-double of the season, with 14 points and 11 rebounds, despite battling an illness. At one point in the second half, during a timeout, Parker doubled over away from the team huddle, his hands on his knees.

It was a timely demonstration. After two losses in three games in Hawaii last week, Parker questioned the team’s toughness.

His call was answered Sunday. After a painful stretch in the Maui Invitational tournament, Isaac Hamilton bounced back with 14 points.

“He brings his toughness, we all kind of rise to it,” Parker said. “When Isaac Hamilton plays like he’s from Crenshaw, it’s hard for us to lose.”

That theory worked Sunday. It will undergo a major test against Kentucky.

UCLA next

Thursday vs. Kentucky, 6 p.m., Pauley Pavilion, ESPN — The Bruins (4-3) will be out for revenge, or at least some respect, after an 83-44 drubbing by Kentucky last season, when the Wildcats scored the game’s first 24 points. The current Kentucky team is 6-0 and ranked No. 1.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Twitter: @zhelfand