LOS ANGELES — When the offseason ended and UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin saw his team on paper, the road to success was clear.

“We don’t have the National Player of the Year,” Cronin told reporters at a preseason media scrum on Oct. 29, “but I think we can be elite in causing havoc because of our depth.”

Cronin’s most successful teams have always had a strong defensive foundation, but these Bruins have reached another level of peskiness.

Their guards can apply effective full-court pressure for long stretches. They trap ball-handlers who dribble into precarious spots in the half court. Their bigs have the freedom to hard hedge on ball screens because their wings have the length and wherewithal to tag and recover.

After 11 games, the Bruins lead the nation in forcing turnovers (18.5 per game) and are fourth in fewest points allowed (56.8 per game). Both impressive metrics. Both indicative of regular-season success.

No. 18 UCLA (10-1) will be tested today at the CBS Sports Classic in Madison Square Garden by a North Carolina team (6-5) that’s among the top 20 scoring teams in the country, averaging 85.6 points per game, and has already faced six ranked opponents.

The matchup may be an indicator for what kind of tournament team UCLA can become. Teams from recent years that have boasted similar defensive metrics have appeared to have a ceiling in the tournament.

Last season, the Houston Cougars led the nation in points allowed (57.6 per game) and were eighth in turnovers created (15.8 per game). The Iowa State Cyclones ranked fourth and third in those respective categories. The Cougars were also second in the nation in points allowed (57.5) in 2022-23, while the Cyclones were ninth in turnovers created (16.5 per game).

Neither year did those teams make it past the Sweet 16. The Cougars lost in that round to Duke last season and to Miami the year before that, while the Cyclones suffered a Sweet 16 loss to Illinois and a first-round defeat to Pittsburgh the year prior.

UCLA experienced a similar fate in its 2022-23 campaign. It finished that season ranked sixth in points allowed (60.3 per game) and 17th in turnovers created (15.9), but lost in the Sweet 16 in a battle with Gonzaga.

In all their season-ending losses, these teams were the higher seed. The issue was that they weren’t consistent enough offensively. They struggled in postseason games when they didn’t generate a high number of turnovers.

This season, UCLA can struggle in games when their turnover margin falls below their season average (+7.5 per game). In the Bruins’ lone loss to New Mexico on Nov. 8, they won the turnover battle by just three. In a two-point win at Oregon on Dec. 8, they won the turnover battle by four.

And last Saturday, as they generated just one turnover in the first eight minutes of the second half against Arizona, their two-point half-time advantage turned into a 13-point deficit. They were able to lock back in on defense, turning the Wildcats over four times in the final 3:43 en route to a 57-54 win.

The Bruins have shown an ability to win low-scoring bouts, like that game against the Wildcats, and higher-scoring affairs, like their 73-71 win over the Ducks. Teams that can achieve that happy medium, and win in various ways, not just on the back of their defense, are the ones that tend to find postseason success.

The Bruins will have to continue working on their half-court offense and their ball security. After their best offensive outing of the season — a 111-75 win over Prairie View A&M, on Tuesday — Eric Dailey Jr. and Dylan Andrews addressed this topic.

“We’re trying to take our time to execute the offense, be strong with the ball, make smart plays and look for the best shot possible,” Dailey said.

“Limiting turnovers will lead to good shots,” Andrews added.

Today’s game features a North Carolina team led by a crafty senior in RJ Davis, as well as a pair of athletic, defensive-minded guards in Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau. Expect them to take care of the ball, offensively, and pressure it, defensively.

In seeking to extend its winning streak to 10 games, UCLA may have to win another game without dominating the turnover column.