When the Bruins limped their way to an 0-2 start, Steve Lavin
talked at great lengths about how much UCLA missed Andre
Patterson.
The sophomore forward, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches but plays
like he’s six inches taller, had to watch from the stands of
Pauley Pavilion for a month while he waited for grades at Santa
Monica College to render him eligible to play for the Bruins once
again.
But by the time he was cleared and entered last night’s
game against
Portland with just over eleven minutes left, his return was
academic.
UCLA’s much-maligned big men had already staked ownership
of the paint without him against a Portland front line that
resembled a smurf colony.
“When we have everyone play like that, we can do
anything,” junior forward TJ Cummings said.
The 6-foot-11-inch Cummings struggled in UCLA’s pair of
opening-season losses, often looking meek in comparison to opposing
seven-footers. But last night against the Pilots, he played with a
renewed sense of purpose, pulling down nine rebounds and slamming
home a couple of putbacks en route to 13 points.
The Bruins outrebounded Portland 33-8 in the first half and
61-31 for the game.
Perhaps most encouraging, though, was the play of the
Bruins’ two freshman centers, Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins.
Fey got his second straight start and looked less wide-eyed. He
blocked three shots and scored seven points in 16 minutes.
“I felt the most comfortable I’ve been all year in
this game,” Fey
said. “Everyone knew we had a height advantage coming
in.”
Hollins played 15 minutes and blocked a pair of shots of his
own, including the second half of back-to-back swats with Fey. He
also pulled down eight rebounds with a ferocity that had been
absent in his first three games.
Lavin and the Bruins expected some growing pains while their
inexperienced big men tried to make up for the absence of Dan
Gadzuric, the Herculean center who now plays with the NBA’s
Milwaukee Bucks. Patterson was supposed to be an integral part of
the process, but the academic ineligibility news sidetracked UCLA a
bit.
Lavin said after the game that he didn’t intend to play
Patterson, who finished with three points, two blocks and two
steals in seven minutes and electrified the crowd with a one-handed
alley-oop dunk.
But with the Bruins up by 30 points for much of the second half,
and the Pauley crowd chanting his name, Lavin sent Patterson
in.
Doubts and concerns still remain, especially as a Dec. 21 date
with Kansas’ skilled and powerful center, Nick Collison,
approaches. The Bruins have won their last two games by such
convincing margins in large part because of gross size mismatches
that are unlikely to continue once the Pac-10 season begins. Elated
as they appeared after the victory, they’ll still need to
grow up fast.
They convinced at least one interested observer, though.
“I was impressed with what I saw,” Portland coach
Michael Holton
said. “What they have going for them, even though they are
young, is great length.”