Kevin Love won’t exactly be warmly welcomed when he returns home to Oregon on Thursday.
The UCLA center, who went to high school in Lake Oswego, Ore., chose UCLA over, among others, the Oregon schools.
There is expected to be some bitterness over the decision from the fans in Oregon.
“I like hostile crowds, and this is definitely going to be, by far, the most hostile crowd for me individually,” Love said. “But also I think as a team. I’m expecting nothing but boos when I get announced for the game.”
Love’s father, Stan Love, was a standout at the University of Oregon.
The elder Love holds some Oregon state records for basketball, but Kevin Love expects his father to be rooting for UCLA on Thursday.
“They’ll be tough on my family and my dad too,” Love said. “(He’ll be rooting for) us. UCLA, no question.”
Oregon’s McArthur Court is a notoriously tough environment to play in for any opposing team, but Love expects a little something special for his arrival, despite coach Ben Howland joking that he expects the fans to be polite and courteous.
“I think it will be fun though,” Love said. “Just seeing what they come up with. A lot of the stuff will probably be derogatory, but I’m ready for it. It’s kind of what college basketball is all about.”
LOVE TOUCHES: In UCLA’s 72-63 loss to USC on Saturday, the Bruins failed to get the ball into the low post over the latter stages of the game, which prevented Love from scoring down low or using his passing skills to get open shots for his teammates.
Although forward James Keefe was pulled from the game for trying to force a pass to Love that got intercepted by the Trojans, he said that it was a focus in their sessions earlier this week to get the ball in to Love this weekend and throughout the season.
“I did make a stupid mistake, forced a post feed like that in a tight game,” Keefe said. “(But) watching the film when the ball gets into Kevin, good things happen. He’s an unselfish player, when he gets the ball, good things happen. So that’s going to be something we work on.”
With the mismatches Love presents for Oregon, which has only one starter taller than 6 feet, 9 inches, getting the ball into the post could be of added importance.
“It’s always a key point, but especially when we have a size advantage,” Keefe said.
“It’s been addressed in the meetings that the ball needs to go inside more and to be a more balanced offensive team.”
MATA-REAL AND MBAH A MOUTE: Center Lorenzo Mata-Real and forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute could be unavailable this weekend because of concussions. If that is the case, the remaining big men will have to step up.
“If it is the case, it will mean more minutes for all the bigs,” Keefe said. “That will be fine. I feel comfortable that we will be all right.”
Keefe may start if Mbah a Moute cannot play Thursday.