Heading into Galen Center to play a red-hot USC team, the last
thing the UCLA basketball team needed was an injury to one of its
key players.
Sophomore forward Josh Shipp tore his right hamstring in
Saturday’s game against Oregon and will be forced to miss the
game against USC on Saturday.
“I am very worried about this becoming something that can
get worse,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “It’s
not a big tear, but I want to be very conservative. It’s a
long season.”
“I’m not frustrated,” Shipp said.
“I’m going to do everything the trainers tell me to do
and try to get back out there as soon as possible. I really want to
get out there, but I just can’t do it.”
Shipp, the Bruins’ second-leading scorer with 14.7 points
per game, is among the team’s top three leaders in points,
rebounds, assists and steals. His absence is a huge loss for the
Bruins, who are going to be facing a strong USC backcourt with
plenty of depth.
“(We’ll miss) his maturity,” junior guard
Arron Afflalo said. “He’s willing to get in there and
rebound and score. He really does a lot for this team; he can lead
us in scoring any given night.”
Shipp, coming off of a hip injury that kept him out most of last
season, has been experiencing cramping ever since the Maui
Invitational back in November.
Cramps caused Shipp, who was also playing on a sprained ankle,
to miss the second half of the Bruins’ victory over
Washington on New Year’s Eve.
“When you cramp, there’s a contraction of the muscle
that just continues and then you become weaker in your muscles and
that’s what happened,” Howland said. “I
don’t want to see this turn into a thing where he’s
going to be out for three weeks, a month, two months ““ and a
hamstring can be a thing that can go on forever.”
Sophomore Michael Roll, who is averaging just under seven points
in 16.5 minutes a game in conference play, will likely start for
Shipp on Saturday. Shipp hopes to be back for the Arizona games the
following week.
“I definitely am going to give it my all, but I
don’t want to push it too soon,” Shipp said.
“They feel it’s not ready to run on right now. I have
to follow the advice of the trainers.”
Shipp’s injury also means freshman guard Russell Westbrook
will see increased minutes.
Westbrook, coming off of his best game of the season against
Oregon, in which he scored 10 points in 13 minutes, will be used as
a point guard and a shooting guard.
“(Westbrook) was probably the most impressive Bruin on
Saturday,” Howland said. “I should have played him more
minutes the way he was playing. He’s going to get more time
now.”
Westbrook was feeling at his peak confidence and was eager to
get back into the game against Oregon after starring in his 13
minutes of action, but the freshman had to watch final few minutes
of the game from the bench.
With Shipp gone, Westbrook is looking forward to the chance to
make a greater impact.
“I’m just looking forward to coming in and trying to
help my team win anyway,” Westbrook said.
“Responsibilities like getting back on defense, stopping the
ball, I just got to remember all that.”