Recalled California Gov. Gray Davis apparently had an orange
thrown at him during the first half of the UCLA-Stanford basketball
game on Saturday. The orange hit an unidentified man three seats
away from Davis, who sat courtside with his wife, Sharon. The man
was uninjured, requiring just a change of clothing. Fans pointed
toward the upper levels of Pauley Pavilion, but police officers
were unable to locate a suspect. Two security officials stood guard
behind Davis for the rest of the game, who later downplayed any
threat to his safety. “The majority of people really have fun
in good taste,” said Davis, a Stanford alumnus and West
Hollywood native. “I just enjoyed the game. As governor, my
pattern was to root for the California team that had the best
record, but since I was sitting in front of the UCLA rooting
section, I had to be on my best behavior.” Davis lost the
governorship in the October recall election to one-time UCLA
(extension) student Arnold Schwarzenegger.
ON THE MEND: UCLA guard Brian Morrison
underwent X-rays on his sprained right ankle Friday, revealing only
a bone bruise. Morrison suited up Saturday, but for the second
straight game was not healthy enough to see action, after having
played last week against Arizona State and Arizona.
“He’s worse off this week than he was last week,”
Howland said Friday. “Hindsight’s 20/20. We should have
just kept him out longer.”
LITTLE BETTER: Stanford center Rob Little tied
his career high of 18 points Saturday, despite UCLA coach Ben
Howland’s strategy to double-team him and the UCLA student
section’s plan to distract him. Students waved empty packages
of chips and cookies at Little, who weighs 265 pounds and
reportedly has a penchant for junk food. Guard Jon Crispin had
distributed the snacks to those camping outside Pauley for seating
priority the night before.
DRIBBLERS: Senior forward T.J. Cummings had 11
points Saturday, becoming the 44th player in UCLA history to score
at least 1,000 career points. CBS play-by-play announcer Dick
Enberg, who called UCLA games during the John Wooden era, addressed
the team at practice on Friday at Howland’s request. Enberg
also presented Howland with an autographed copy of his game notes
from Pittsburgh’s 2002 Sweet Sixteen appearance (under
Howland’s coaching).