Twelve months after last year’s season-opening loss to San
Diego, Dijon Thompson’s humiliation still has not
subsided.
Nor has his embarrassment over a home loss to Cal State
Northridge. Or Northern Arizona or Pepperdine for that matter.
So when Ben Howland makes his UCLA debut Saturday night against
Vermont, Thompson is determined not to let the Catamounts spoil the
party.
“It hurt a lot when those teams came in and beat
us,” the junior forward said. “This year we’re a
lot more polished and a lot more mature. We’re not going to
let a team like Vermont come in and beat us.”
The memory of the unheralded Toreros celebrating on UCLA’s
home floor is motivation enough for this year’s squad.
Although Vermont (0-2) does not have a roster littered with
prep-All-Americans, UCLA players are steadfast in their
determination to make Howland’s first regular season game a
victory.
“Losing to San Diego was pretty embarrassing,”
sophomore center Michael Fey said. “We know this year we
can’t look past anybody.”
Although Vermont lost its first two games this season, it does
have the size and depth to give UCLA trouble. The defending America
East champion Catamounts feature five players 6-foot-7 or taller,
including last season’s conference player of the year ““
junior forward Taylor Coppenrath.
Vermont has also already played two games on the season, and
should be in better game shape than the Bruins.
“It’s a distinct advantage for them,” Howland
said. “Vermont is a good team. They’ve got a lot of
good veteran players. They’re going to be a challenge for us,
no question.”
With T.J. Cummings sidelined for at least the first three games
of the season due to academic trouble, the assignment of guarding
the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Coppenrath will go to freshman Trevor
Ariza. Coppenrath averaged a team-high 20.2 points per game last
season, and could be a difficult match-up for the slender 198-pound
Ariza.
But at nearly every position the Bruins seem to have the edge on
both ends of the floor. Thompson, Ariza and Fey have each had
productive exhibition seasons, finishing among the team leaders in
scoring and rebounding.
Junior Cedric Bozeman, who sprained his right ankle last Monday
in practice, will start against the Catamounts and said he does not
expect his movement to suffer at all.
Bozeman did sit out of practice Monday, but will participate as
usual for the rest of the week.
“I’m not really too concerned about it,”
Howland said.
Howland downplayed his regular season debut at his weekly press
conference Tuesday, calling it more important to the players than
to himself. But Thompson did acknowledge that the team wants to
begin the Howland era with a victory.
“We’ve been waiting since Coach Howland got here to
play a game,” he said. “Now we finally get to see where
we’re at.”