Sometimes it takes a smart-aleck younger brother to tell you
what you need to hear.
Fresh off a sub-par performance in a late-December loss to
Michigan, UCLA guard Janou Rubin arrived in Los Angeles only to
receive a tongue-lashing from his 17-year-old brother Jawaan.
“He called me a wuss, and told me I was playing
scared,” Rubin said. “I went back and watched some of
my high school tapes and saw that I played harder back then. I
don’t know what happened to that person, but I decided that I
was going to try to get back to that.”
It appears “that person” has returned.
Rubin, who walked on at UCLA for three years until he received a
scholarship this season, scored a career-high 13 points in just 18
minutes in a victory over Oregon State on Friday. He then matched
that with 13 more against Oregon on Sunday on his way to being
honored as the Pac-10 Player of the Week.
“It’s great to see him doing so well, but it’s
not surprising,” said Lynn Rubin, Janou’s father.
“You still haven’t seen the real Janou. Everything he
was in high school is coming back.”
Rubin’s performance this past weekend marked his first run
of sustained success in four admittedly trying seasons in a Bruin
uniform.
A prolific scorer at Union City’s James Logan High School,
Rubin averaged 26.8 points per game as a senior, but, at the advice
of his father, passed up scholarship offers from a number of
mid-major programs to walk-on at UCLA.
In his three years under former coach Steve Lavin, he played
sparingly, redshirting the 2001-02 season and averaging just over
four minutes per game in the other two. About the only time his
name got in the papers was in mid-December of his freshman year at
UCLA, when his father sued the New Haven Unified School District
after Jawaan was cut from his varsity basketball team.
The story made headlines nation-wide ““ not exactly the
sort of publicity Rubin was seeking.
“My dad is always someone who rocks the boat, but he means
well,” Rubin said. “I dealt with it fine. It was my
brother who actually had a hard time with it. He wanted to leave it
all behind.”
Basketball wasn’t any easier for Rubin at UCLA than it was
for Jawaan back in the Bay Area. His father said that Lavin
promised Rubin would receive a scholarship after his freshman year,
but failed to deliver. Lavin later told the family Rubin could have
former UCLA recruit Evan Burns’ scholarship if he did not
qualify academically, but again reneged on his promise.
“When Evan Burns failed, he gave it to (senior John)
Hoffart instead,” Lynn Rubin said. “That was a huge
blow.”
Rubin remained at UCLA, declining a scholarship offer from
Portland after his freshman season. As he languished on the bench
the next two years, he bided his time, watching former UCLA guards
Earl Watson and Billy Knight and waiting for an opportunity to
play.
Not being able to contribute frustrated Rubin, and he leaned on
his family for moral support.
“He definitely got a little bit depressed sometimes
because of the basketball situation,” Lynn Rubin said.
“I always had to explain the big picture to him. Lavin would
be fired eventually. But if Lavin had stayed another year, he
(Janou) was gone.”
Luckily for Rubin, he didn’t have to leave. Instead he
cracked the Bruins’ eight-man rotation from the outset, and
Howland granted him a scholarship, although Rubin has agreed to
vacate it at the end of the season to make room for the next
year’s incoming class.
“I’ve slowly started earning some respect,”
Rubin said. “Before I didn’t have the money to back it
up, but I never felt like I didn’t have the game. Now I feel
a little more comfortable, a little more confident.”
Rubin’s playing time had been sporadic until a hamstring
injury to guard Brian Morrison gave him the opportunity he had been
waiting for. Although he struggled in his first opportunity ““
a scoreless seven minutes against Michigan ““ Rubin has shown
that he fits well in Howland’s system. His defensive
intensity coupled with his offensive flurry against the Oregon
schools provided a glimpse of his potential and solidified his spot
in Howland’s rotation even after Morrison returns.
“He seized his opportunity,” Howland said. “He
came in, he delivered, and I am happy for him.”
Howland said he doesn’t believe Rubin’s resurgence
is a fluke, and that he expects the junior guard to continue to
make an impact. Rubin’s father will go even one step
further.
“The best of Janou is yet to come,” Lynn Rubin
said.