Afflalo shows way to bounce back strong

Arron Afflalo had to think for a moment.

Asked if he could recall the last time the Bruins had played as well as they did Thursday in their NCAA first-round rout of Weber State at Arco Arena, Afflalo couldn’t immediately provide an answer.

“When’s the last time we won? Stanford?” he said, referring to the team’s 75-61 victory Feb. 24 in its Pauley Pavilion finale.

It hadn’t been that long since the Bruins’ last victory -- merely two weeks and three games since they defeated Washington State, 53-45, on March 1. Yet, that relatively short span was long enough to spawn some doubts about their NCAA prospects, fueled by their lackluster effort in a 61-52 loss at Washington in their last regular-season game and the disintegration of their defense in a 76-69 overtime loss to California in a Pacific 10 Conference tournament quarterfinal.

Afflalo had attracted his share of doubts too.

As the Bruins lurched toward the NCAA tournament, the junior guard lurched along with them, scoring 14 points against Washington State, 12 against Washington and a season-low three against Cal to end his double-figure scoring streak at 29 games and cut his scoring average to 16.7 points. He called the debacle against Cal the worst game of his career, and few would argue.

He took that loss to heart, but he took his disappointment and frustration and channeled them in the most constructive way possible in Thursday’s West Regional.

Afflalo’s 22-point, eight-rebound performance wasn’t the best of his career. Not given the circumstances or the opponent. The Big Sky champion Wildcats were overmatched, unable to slow the tempo and play the ugly, low-scoring game that might have given them a remote chance of pulling off an upset.

But Afflalo’s effort was significant in ways that might resonate beyond his having recorded 20 or more points for the first time since that Stanford game and passing Dijon Thompson and Pooh Richardson to rank 18th on UCLA’s career scoring list with 1,472 points.

He showed his teammates Thursday that he wasn’t brooding over his personal misfortune, that he was again ready to lead them through whatever confronts them. His focus and steadiness told them he was all business. After a few jitters and a tentative start, so were they.

“Arron’s a great player and we were never worried. He had that rough game, but we weren’t worried about it,” teammate Josh Shipp said. “We know how he is. We see it every day in practice. I think just being tournament time, everybody has stepped up their level of intensity.”

Afflalo’s resolve was evident. After a three-point shot by Juan Pablo Silveira cut UCLA’s lead to 15-14 with 7:58 to play in the first half, Afflalo contributed eight points to a 22-5 UCLA roll that put them beyond the Wildcats’ faltering reach.

“It wasn’t easily put behind me, but as far as the team concept I think it was overblown,” Afflalo said of the Cal game.

“It’s an individual thing, and this is a team sport. Of course I want to play well and the better I play I feel the better the team is. But this is not an individual game. I’ll take care of that by work ethic....

“My whole thing is to try and be aggressive within the team concept. The guys did a great job of playing together. The positive thing for us tonight is to get back on a winning streak.”

One victory is a start. How far they will go depends on Shipp and Darren Collison and the team’s defense, but Afflalo’s leadership will count for a lot.

“I don’t want to say we’re back after one game, but we did definitely take a step in a positive direction and that’s what’s most important,” Afflalo said.

“This whole tournament is about surviving and advancing, and you advance and you have to be happy with that, but you can’t rest on it or it will be short-lived.”

The Bruins’ large margin of victory wasn’t a message to anyone, he said, “it’s more of a message to ourself within our team on how we need to compete.”

“This one is satisfying, the way we played, because you could tell the way we practiced all week that we would be ready tonight, and it’s good to see that fulfilled.”

Bruins Coach Ben Howland said Afflalo’s difficulties had been “blown up so much,” and that he knew Afflalo would bounce back impressively.

“He had a poor game our last game. Everybody talked about that and we’ve already gone through that,” Howland said. “I expected him to play well. Obviously, he did. I think he’s had one poor game that I can remember in three years, our last game. That’s done and over.

“Thank goodness he had it in our last game and not today when there’s no more tomorrows.”

Thanks to Afflalo, there’s a tomorrow for UCLA, against Indiana. “We played well,” he said, “and hopefully, it continues.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com