SACRAMENTO ““ It got to a point where Lorenzo Mata just couldn’t take it
anymore. When the junior center was pulled from the game early in the
first half, he sat down on the bench and just started yakking.
“I didn’t really want to see that,” sophomore forward Josh Shipp said jokingly.
After UCLA coach Ben Howland told Mata that he wanted him to remain in the game if he could, Mata tried to go back out, but his stomach continued to act up. Mata vomited again and Ryan Wright and James Keefe saw the minutes Mata would have had if he had been healthy.
But as the first half wound down, Mata began to feel better. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich that Mata said was the culprit for his vomiting was out of his system and he re-entered the game with about five minutes to go. He immediately earned a dunk-off of an offensive rebound.
“I went out there and just played my game again,” Mata said. “I felt better ““ I didn’t think that I was going to throw up any more.”
By the second half, Mata was sporting a newer, cleaner No. 21 jersey and was back at full strength, hardly shaken up at all by the events that took place in the first half.
Mata ended up finishing the game with six points, seven rebounds and three blocks in 25 minutes of action.
“Lorenzo’s a warrior straight out,” sophomore point guard Darren Collison said. “Him and Alfred (Aboya) are the two toughest guys on this team.”
INDIANA NEXT: UCLA is sure to receive a much tougher challenge on Saturday from Indiana, the No. 7 seed in the region.
The Hoosiers knocked off 10th-seeded Gonzaga in the nightcap at Arco Arena in convincing fashion, ending any hopes for a possible re-match of last year’s Sweet 16 matchup between Gonzaga and UCLA.
Indiana guard Roderick Wilmont tore up the Bulldogs with his precise shooting and second-team All Big Ten performer D.J. White was his usual dominant self. White had 16 points and 10 rebounds and was simply too much of a force around the paint for Gonzaga to handle.
“I love the way we won the game," first-year coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We’re not an offensive juggernaut. We had to play tough defense, make the extra pass, and execute.”
White will present UCLA with quite the challenge inside. He is as big and physical of a player as the Bruins have faced this season and plays with aggressiveness. The Bruins will likely use their patented double-team in an attempt to contain White.
Beating Gonzaga was a victory of redemption for the Hoosiers. Indiana lost to the Bulldogs last year in the Round of 32 and Gonzaga went on to lose to UCLA in the Sweet 16.
The Hoosiers, under Sampson, start two seniors on their team, Wilmont and Earl Calloway, and two juniors, D.J. White and Mike White.
What concerns Sampson about UCLA is the size of its backcourt.
Calloway, freshman Armon Bassett and Wilmont are listed as 6-feet-3-inches, 6-feet-4-inches and 6-feet-1-inch, respectively, and Sampson is concerned about Bruin junior guard Arron Afflalo and Shipp with their size and ability.
“I think (UCLA) has a better team this year and last year; they were in the championship game,” Sampson said. “This is going to be a tough game for us. We’ll see.”