The 2014 season showed a little bit of regression. But with Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams and Zach LaVine gone to the NBA. It was known that it would be hard to replace that production. Norman Powell did get his opportunity to showcase his skills and became First-team All-Pac-12. Powell had talks of going to the NBA after the previous season. But after being told he would most likely be undrafted came back for a senior season. It was a good decision as he was drafted at the conclusion of this season.
𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑮 𝑵𝑶𝑹𝑴.
Looking back nearly 10 years, to a younger Norman Powell, now excelling with the @LAClippers in his ninth @NBA season.#FlashbackFriday | @npowell2404 🏀📸 pic.twitter.com/WEOc0rDTOM
— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) January 26, 2024
The Bruins went 22-14 on the season and had a pretty solid offense. Powell led the team at 16.4 points per game, while Steve Alford’s son Bryce averaged 15.4 per game. In total, they had five guys average and double digits. The biggest problem came that outside of that they didn’t have much else. Outside of those five in double digits, their next leading scorer was Thomas Welsh at 3.8 per game.
The defense also struggled quite a bit giving up 68.1 points per game. That ranked 219th in the nation. If their offense wasn’t on, they were not going to win any defensive battles. Kevon Looney was their prized freshman who came in and had a good season averaging 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. He added to the list of many UCLA players that went one and done at the school.
Looney is a sneaky shooter! He was a problem at UCLA 💛💙
▪️11.6 PPG (47/41/62)
▪️9.2 RPG
▪️1.4 APG
▪️1.3 SPG
▪️0.9 BPG
UCLA Loon > your favourite player!
pic.twitter.com/ijiKKFOu8Z
— LoonMuse⚜️ (@KevonLooneyMuse) October 14, 2025
The team made it to the March Madness tournament. Making a decent run there. They beat SMU as a No. 11 seed. Then got to face UAB who was the No. 14 seed in the round of 32. Before losing to No. 2 Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. UCLA after this season would again be decimated by guys going to the NBA. Something that would happen many times throughout the Ben Howland and Alford eras of basketball.