NEW YORK “”mdash; In the aftermath of UCLA’s 71-55 loss to
St. John’s on Saturday, Bruin coach Ben Howland promised
changes to the starting lineup. “We’re going to go back
to the drawing board here and make some changes as we get prepared
for Washington State,” Howland said. “We’re going
to have to make some changes to our lineup to try to get off to a
better start early.” The most likely starter to go is junior
Dijon Thompson. Though the 6-foot-7 guard is the team’s
leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, he has struggled to
sufficiently defend quicker guards in recent weeks. Junior Brian
Morrison may very well break into the starting lineup after
starting the second half in favor of Thompson. Howland cited the
matchup problems that Thompson created and has called Morrison the
team’s best transition defender as well as three-point
shooter. The Washington State game on Thursday would be
Morrison’s third game back in action after missing nine games
due to a strained left hamstring.
FREE-THROW WOES: The Bruins continued their
struggles at the free-throw line, going just 4-for-15. “We
missed three front ends of one-and-ones, and the lead started to
get away from us,” Howland said. “That’s six
points right there, and it started to snowball on us.”
Starting forward Trevor Ariza missed all five of his attempts.
MIXING IT UP: Ariza and St. John guard Andre
Stanley got in each other’s faces in the second half of the
game after Ariza bumped Stanley near the sideline for a foul. Ariza
ultimately got the best of the exchange, as Stanley eventually was
called for an offensive foul for pushing off, and Ariza flew in for
a dunk on the other end.