Sophomore Alfred Aboya could only sit and watch as the Huskies grabbed rebound after rebound.
Normally one of the Bruins’ most reliable rebounders and players off the bench, Aboya was held out of Saturday’s game versus the Huskies after suffering a left-knee injury on Thursday against Washington State.
The end result was nothing good for the Bruins. They were outrebounded 44-29 and Aboya’s replacements, freshman James Keefe and sophomore Ryan Wright, were held without a rebound in 14 minutes of action.
“If you are asking me whether we missed Alfred out there, I would say absolutely yes,” coach Ben Howland said. “He is such a high-energy player that adds so much to our team.”
Without Aboya in the lineup, the Bruins were forced to rely on center Lorenzo Mata for their inside production.
Although Mata did an admirable job, scoring 10 points and grabbing nine rebounds, the Bruins clearly missed Aboya’s presence.
“Alfred plays extremely hard every time he comes out on the court,” Mata said. “He definitely would have helped us on the boards.”
With Mata the only player to man the middle, the Husky big men took advantage.
Huskies freshman Spencer Hawes and sophomore Jon Brockman grabbed a combined 28 rebounds and the two players had 13 and 20 points, respectively.
“If you look back last year, Aboya was the most physical person in the game,” Brockman said. “We know he is one of the most physical players on their team. They definitely missed him.”
After the game, Aboya said he could have played on Saturday, but the coach and trainer made the decision to hold him out. Aboya had swelling on the left knee on Friday, but said the knee felt much better Saturday morning.
“We wanted to err on the side of caution just like we have with all our injuries this season,” Howland said. “We are going to go back and have the film compared from the MRI he took yesterday.
“Ideally, we will have an MRI (of his knee) taken in our own facility.”
Despite not playing on Saturday, Aboya said he fully expects to play on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. when the Bruins play the winner of the California-Oregon State game in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament.
AFFLALO RESPONDS: After being told that Washington point guard Justin Dentmon felt the Bruins were not ready to play on Saturday and were overlooking the Huskies, Afflalo had his own message.
“If he did say that, then no,” Afflalo said. “That is not his position to analyze how we get ready for our game. We won’t be joking around next time, if that’s the case.”
HUSKY SENIOR DAY: Prior to Saturday’s game, the Huskies honored their two seniors, Hans Gasser and Brandon Burmeister.
Both players started the game, and were given a standing ovation by the “˜Dawg Pack’ when they came off the court.
Although both players scored zero points, they finished their four-year Husky careers with a 49-4 home record, including 16-2 this season.
PAC-10 TOURNEY: With USC losing to Washington State in double overtime on Saturday, and Stanford losing to Arizona, the Pac-10 matchups are set for this week.
USC will be the No. 3 seed, and will play No. 6-seeded Stanford in the late game Thursday, while Washington State was given the No. 2 seed and will play the winner of the Washington-Arizona State game on Thursday. Arizona, meanwhile, will be the No. 5 seed and play No. 4 seed Oregon at 12:30 p.m.
COACHES AT CIF: With the early game on Saturday, Bruin coaches Ben Howland, Kerry Keating and Donny Daniels were able to travel to the CIF championship game Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Participating in the game was prospective Bruin recruit Renardo Sidney, who is a sophomore at Artesia High School.