Just moments before making his UCLA basketball coaching debut,
Ben Howland was all alone in the locker room.
There he sat and thought about all he had lost since taking the
job in the offseason ““ namely his father, Robert, who died in
June from a head injury following a fall.
Then, Howland went out and did some winning ““ something
UCLA hasn’t been used to lately ““ leading the Bruins to
a 74-67 exhibition win over EA Sports on Wednesday night at Pauley
Pavilion.
“I wished my dad could be here tonight,” Howland
said. “From what I saw tonight, there were a lot of positives
to build on for this team.”
True freshman Trevor Ariza had his own impressive debut, leading
the Bruins with team-highs of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Ariza, a power forward out of Westchester High School, was the
most active of all the Bruins, going an impressive 7-for-14 from
the floor and showing off some splendid passing skills.
“Trevor’s going to be an outstanding player,”
Howland said.
Center Ryan Hollins was the main beneficiary of Ariza’s
assists, when he had a thunderous dunk with 2:44 left in the game
to seal the win.
Hollins, who had lost his starting job in practice to fellow
sophomore Michael Fey, played the crucial minutes in the second
half and finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
He was one of the first players off the bench and had two
consecutive dunks to complete an 8-0 run with 5:16 left in the
first half that gave UCLA a 34-24 lead.
“Whatever role Coach (Howland) wants me to play, I’m
going to do that,” Hollins said.
Fey, meanwhile, only had two points in 19 minutes.
“Mike was nervous,” Howland said. He didn’t
play nearly as well as he’s going to play.”
Still, it was EA Sports that took a 37-36 lead into halftime
after responding to Hollins’ outburst with a 13-2 run.
EA Sports was led by three former Bruins ““ Ed
O’Bannon, Matt Barnes and Ray Young ““ each of whom
received rousing cheers upon having their names announced as part
of the starting lineup.
Barnes, a forward who earlier this month signed with the
ABA’s Long Beach Jam, led all scorers with 21 points.
O’Bannon, who received the biggest ovation for leading
UCLA to a national championship in 1995, was a shell of his old
self, scoring 11 points.
Young had 10 points on the night.
Right before game time, three new players were also added to the
EA Sports roster, including guard Rico Hines, who graduated in
2002. Hines added 11 points.
As ghastly as these ghosts of Bruin past looked at times,
nothing could compare to UCLA’s free-throw shooting.
The Bruins ended up going a horrific 5-for-23 on the charity
stripe, good for 21.7 percent.
“The free-throw shooting was atrocious,” Howland
said. “That’s my responsibility.
“We will be a good free-throw-shooting team. Take that to
the bank. I guarantee we will spend a lot more time on
it.”
Conditioning was also a factor, as junior small forward Dijon
Thompson, who finished with 16 points, had to take himself out once
during the game.
Still, EA Sports was impressed by the Bruins.
“(The Bruins) were actually decent,” EA Sports
forward Ricky Anderson said. “They were playing a lot better
defensively.”
UCLA also out-rebounded EA Sports 45-35.
Though the play on the floor at times resembled that of a
pick-up game, the win was anything but meaningless.
“This year is going to set a tone for the future,”
Young said. “They’re definitely on the right
track.”
UCLA returns to Pauley next Tuesday to play its final exhibition
against the Southern California All-Stars.