The way Sunday’s game ended left members of the UCLA
basketball team with a sick feeling inside. Facing a sea of red
from the Stanford students swarming around them as they left the
court didn’t make a devastating loss any easier. After one
student accidentally hit Arron Afflalo in the face, the junior
guard almost lost it completely. “At the time, you know, I
got a little attitude right now, so it’s not a good time to
be hitting me in the face,” Afflalo said. Afflalo nearly let
his emotions get the best of him and was close to reacting.
Fortunately, sophomore forward Alfred Aboya saw the whole thing and
was there to hold Afflalo back from doing anything he might have
later regretted. “The buzzer went off and we were going to
the locker room, and this fan was just jumping and hit Arron in the
face,” Aboya said. “(Arron) had him and tried to punch
him back, but I was behind him, I had him. … He almost reacted on
the spot, but luckily I was behind him and nothing worse
happened.” Although the whole team was down about the loss to
Stanford, Afflalo was especially upset. During the post-game
interviews, he had noticeably red eyes and looked and sounded
defeated. For Afflalo, the fact that the team blew such a big lead
and didn’t display the type of effort of which they were
capable was even more disappointing than the team’s loss to
Oregon. The fact that he took both the Oregon and Stanford losses
so personally might explain why a normally even-tempered Afflalo
almost snapped. “I’ve got pretty good control over my
temper, but you just never know at that point in time. Right now,
speaking to you, I can say I can control myself, but then
I’ve got some fan cursing at me and accidentally hitting me
in the face. … You have to be understanding about it and not
react to a situation where it’s not isolated. They’re
celebrating.” Afflalo said a similar situation occurred when
the Oregon students rushed the floor and UCLA assistant coach Donny
Daniels had to hold him back. “I’ve got some people who
are looking after me, which is good, before I make a bad decision
in the heat of the moment,” Afflalo said. “That’s
why we’ve got to win games ““ so that doesn’t
happen.” PLAYER OF THE YEAR IMPLICATIONS?: Thursday’s
matchup with Oregon is a big game for many reasons. Not only is it
a battle for first place in the Pac-10, it also pits arguably the
top two candidates for Pac-10 Player of the Year against one
another: Afflalo and Oregon senior point guard Aaron Brooks.
“In my judgment, when I look at those type of season-ending
awards … I always look at the teams that are in first
place,” Howland said. “The goal of being the best
player is making your team win. … That’s what Aaron Brooks
has done for Oregon.” Afflalo will share the responsibility
of guarding Brooks with sophomore point guard Darren Collison and
has been studying his assignment carefully after Brooks walked all
over the Bruins in the Ducks’ win earlier this season.
“I have a better feel of who he is as a player,”
Afflalo said.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: Both the Oregon loss and
last Sunday’s Stanford loss saw the Bruins waste fast-break
opportunities that they usually convert. Howland was especially
upset with one 2-on-1 fast break in which Collison had the ball and
Josh Shipp was running the opposite wing. Shipp and Collison were
even at mid-court, but Shipp slowed down and wasn’t ready
when Collison decided to pass him the ball. “We’ve
talked about it at length,” Howland said. “The bottom
line is instead of sprinting and trying to get the layup, he was
getting his timing down to try to come in for a dunk. … All we
care about are the two points; we don’t get any extra for
dunks.”