It might as well be the refrain of the Pac-10 theme song around
this time in the season.
“Anybody can beat anybody on a given night,” UCLA
coach Ben Howland said.
Case in point: Last weekend, UCLA fell to lowly Washington State
for the first time ever in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, only to defeat a
considerably stronger Washington team that was riding a five-game
winning streak two days later.
Tonight, as UCLA (10-9, 6-5 Pac-10) begins its battle with the
Arizona schools by taking on Arizona State (8-12, 2-9) in Tempe,
the Bruins will realize that the Sun Devils’ rock-bottom
conference standing means very little. They will also realize the
key to winning games starts with toughness and rebounding.
“(Washington was) the first team we outboarded since
ASU,” Howland said. “It’s a pretty easy thing to
correlate with when you win to what you do well.”
The Bruins are 9-1 when they out-rebound an opponent, and 0-6
when they are out-rebounded. Part of the rebounding edge against
Washington likely sprung from Howland’s decision to utilize
his bench, leaving energized players on the floor the entire
game.
Those same reserves, including guards Jon Crispin and Ryan
Walcott, who each played arguably their best game of the season
against the Huskies, will be called upon tonight to help contain
some of the Sun Devils’ weapons.
On good nights, players like forward Ike Diogu and point guard
Jason Braxton can dominate the game, but UCLA did a reasonable job
in containing the duo in mid-January when they visited Pauley
Pavilion. The team will have to make it a priority to shut the pair
down once again, particularly Diogu, the Pac-10’s leading
scorer.
“He’s tough,” forward Trevor Ariza said of
Diogu. “You can’t stop players like that. You can just
contain them.”
But Howland expects some of his players to be doing more than
simply containing.
He wants his team to be more proactive not only on the glass,
but also anticipating opponents’ moves, especially in the
post. The Bruin coach expects more out of players like center Ryan
Hollins, who has only seven blocks in 11 games, and point guard
Cedric Bozeman, who has only 11 steals the entire season.
“You have to start thinking bigger, doing more with your
God-given ability,” Howland said.
And though the reserves may have less of that God-given ability,
they will certainly be expected to bring something to the court
tonight, including the recognition of the importance of this
weekend’s games.
“Anyone can be beaten,” Crispin said. “We want
to go into the Pac-10 tournament with all of the momentum in the
world and try to win it. This is a very big weekend for
us.”
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Brian Morrison’s status was upgraded to probable,
according to Howland. He worked out with the team the past two days
and is expected to play limited minutes.