Injuries mount as quickly as wins

TEMPE, Ariz. “”mdash; Above the red doors and yellow walls inside
Arizona State’s home arena hangs a sign that says
“Welcome To Wells Fargo Arena.” During the
Bruins’ short visit to Tempe, however, it may as well have
read “UCLA Medical Center Entrance.” A 10-minute
sequence following the Bruins’ 61-60 clipping of Arizona
State on Saturday seemed to perfectly capture how injuries have
decimated UCLA’s roster and become the unwanted sidebar to
the 2005-06 season. It began with sophomore Arron Afflalo, who
injured his left hip and right side with less than two minutes
remaining after driving hard to the basket, making a lay-up and
getting fouled, but finding nothing but the court to break his
fall. Afflalo attempted to return, but UCLA team trainer Tony Spino
advised Howland against that idea. After the game, Afflalo was
taken to the sports medicine office for observation, after which he
limped his way back to the locker room. “I’ll be
fine,” said Afflalo, who did not require X-rays but said he
suffered multiple bruises. Minutes later, sophomore center Lorenzo
Mata emerged from the observation room with tissues filled with
blood stuck in his nostrils and an ice pack on the bridge of his
nose, with doctors saying he most likely suffered a slight
fracture. Though Mata did not recall when the injury occurred, it
was serious enough that blood began to seep out of his nose and
onto his jersey, which he needed to replace with a spotless and
nameless No. 44 jersey in order to return to the court. Mata, who
had two teeth knocked out in UCLA’s game against Michigan on
Dec. 17, planned to undergo more tests on the nose on Sunday.
Regardless of what doctors find, Mata believes he’ll most
likely need to play with a mask for the immediate future. Finally,
sophomore Jordan Farmar came out of the locker room the same way he
has the last few games ““ with his left shoe on and his right
shoe off, preparing his sore ankle for yet another ice bath. The
Bruins’ rash of injuries even had Marc Dellins, normally the
team’s media relations director, scrambling around the bowels
of Wells Fargo Arena as a part-time nurse. His medical duties
including guiding a bloodied Mata into the locker room and
providing a tub of ice for Farmar while the point guard spoke with
reporters. Afflalo, Farmar and Mata, however, are all expected to
be able to play against Washington State on Thursday at Pauley
Pavilion. The same cannot certainly be said for seniors Michael
Fey, Cedric Bozeman and Ryan Hollins. Fey has missed the last three
games because of a sprained right ankle, and his status is
uncertain. Hollins has missed all four conference games since
straining his groin in warm-ups on Dec. 23 before UCLA’s bout
with Sacramento State. And Bozeman suffered a cartilage tear in his
left shoulder on Dec. 27 and is expected to rehabilitate the injury
for 3-4 weeks, though it will eventually require surgery most
likely after the season. In order to expedite the rehabilitating
process, UCLA coach Ben Howland has given his players off until
Tuesday in order to rest and focus on the beginning of classes for
winter quarter. For a team that can’t escape a game, much
less a half, without another injury to add to an already long list,
the three-day break was welcome news. “Right now, (the days
off) actually sound really good,” said sophomore Josh Shipp,
still nursing a sore right hip.

CAMEROON CONNECTION: After the United States, the second-most
represented country in Saturday’s game was Cameroon. Bruin
freshmen Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya and Arizona
State junior Serge Angounou all hail from the African nation. While
Mbah a Moute and Aboya may have won the war in UCLA’s 61-60
victory, Angounou undoubtedly won the individual battle, recording
a career-high 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field.

COLD FROM THE ARC, HOT FROM THE LINE: There was a perfectly good
explanation for the Bruins’ 3-point struggles on Saturday at
Wells Fargo Arena ““ the line was simply too far away. UCLA
was putrid from behind-the-arc, making only 1 of 15 of its
3-pointers. But from the free-throw line a little closer to the
basket, the Bruins were deadly accurate, making 24 of 29 shots (82
percent) from the charity stripe. Afflalo, who went 1-for-9 from
behind the arc, made all 12 free throws he attempted on
Saturday.

DRIBBLERS: After Cal’s loss to Oregon
State on Saturday, there is no longer an undefeated team in the
Pac-10 in conference play. UCLA is tied with Arizona and Cal atop
the Pac-10 standings with identical 3-1 conference
records…Arizona State coach Rob Evans, whose team also lost to
USC on Thursday in the last five seconds of the game, admitted that
several of his players were crying in the locker room after losing
to UCLA on Saturday. “There are a lot of wet eyes in that
locker room over there and that tells me these guys want to win.
They want to win bad. They’re putting forth the
effort,” Evans said.

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