It was the little things that led to the Bruins’ loss to
their crosstown rivals at the Sports Arena on Wednesday night. A
marked lack of rebounds was one of those little things tha has
reared its head all season for UCLA, especially during the first
half of the 78-77 overtime loss. “We needed more rebounding
than (what we did),” coach Ben Howland said, noting that
center Michael Fey had a solid first half before notching four
fouls, and that Ryan Hollins had a better second half. Although
neither Fey nor Hollins grabbed any rebounds during the first half,
the lack of rebounding was decidedly an overall issue for those on
the court. Besides Trevor Ariza, who started at forward but also
played at shooting guard, and senior forward T.J. Cummings ““
who both grabbed four each — no player had more than one rebound.
“We had a couple of guys who weren’t finding it,”
Cummings said. “It just breaks everything down.” UCLA
was out-rebounded 41-39 in the game.
LETHAL PAIR: The Pac-10 suspended twins Derrick
and Errick Craven for one day Wednesday, for events that transpired
during USC’s contest against California last week. USC
appealed the suspension, and both of the twins were allowed to play
against UCLA Wednesday night. Derrick allegedly threw a punch at
Cal player Richard Midgley, and Errick’s hard foul on Midgley
warranted a suspension. The twins will go to a hearing on Friday in
front of a Pac-10 compliance and enforcement committee, which will
decide their status for USC’s games against Oregon and Oregon
State next weekend. Neither would comment on the matter.
DRIBBLERS: Janou Rubin came off the bench at
shooting guard during UCLA’s first substitution instead of
senior Jon Crispin. Crispin, who started against Stanford, will
start against Notre Dame in his final home game as a
Bruin”¦Senior center John Hoffart played five minutes
Wednesday night, the first significant time he’s had on the
court in the Pac-10 season. He made the back end of a pair of free
throws with four minutes to go in the first half and grabbed an
offensive rebound. The only previous conference game Hoffart played
in was UCLA’s blowout over Cal a week ago today. He played
one minute.