— Steve Alford said UCLA has been doing a lot of work using 15- and 20-second shot clocks, and is ahead of where they should be on offense — albeit turning the ball over too often. However, the team is behind defensively, especially on the backboard.

“Our two best rebounders have probably been Kyle (Anderson) and Tony (Parker),” Alford said, adding that the team has been much better on the offensive glass.

The Bruins were last in the Pac-12 last year with a -1.6 rebounding margin.

— Five-star power forward Kevon Looney was on campus for the last of his five official visits. He will announce his decision on Oct. 31, with Duke being the favorite.

— Five-star guard Isaac Hamilton’s eligibility is still in question as the Bruins await a decision on his appeal to the NLI committee.

— UCLA coaches and players played a softball game during its Lake Arrowhead retreat this past weekend. The players won 20-19, with David Wear plating Jordan Adams for the winning run.

“Hopefully, a weekend like this is a good break for their bodies, where they’re not banging on each other,” Alford said. “We’ll start bringing in officials now and start doing more scrimmage work.”

— Junior guard Norman Powell also learned something surprising about a teammate during the getaway:

For what it’s worth, Adams thought Parker might have just been joking around.