Spencer Soo has defied all odds as a 5-foot-8-inch guard and made a strong impression on UCLA coaches to earn a spot as a walk-on on this year’s Bruin squad. The UCLA sophomore sat down with the Daily Bruin’s Ajaybir Behniwal and discussed what he did to impress Ben Howland, how he spends his spare time and everything in between ““ including what enables him to get above the rim and throw down dunks.
Daily Bruin: What inspired you to walk on this year?
Spencer Soo: Actually, I tried to walk on my freshman year but unfortunately I missed some tryouts. That gave me motivation to try out again. The whole year last year I didn’t play basketball or work out, and I realized that I missed basketball so much that I had to work out and get back into it. So over the summer I put on about 15 pounds of muscle and worked out with Fresno City College the whole summer to prepare for tryouts.
DB: What do you think coach Howland saw in you?
SS: Actually I think it was mostly just my work ethic. They’re not looking for anyone to score the game-winning basket in the championship game. They’re just looking for people to make the scholarship players better, and he saw that I work hard. I push them in sprints and I go all out all the time.
DB: Who do you guard the most in practices?
SS: I take pride in guarding Darren (Collison) and Russell Westbrook. We basically have the No. 1 and No. 2 point guards in the nation, and I take pride in just staying in front of them. They’re much better than me, I agree with that, but I at least work with them.
DB: What’s it like going up against guys like that and then seeing them take the court during a game?
SS:Two years ago I saw them play against Gonzaga. The first couple of days of practice I was just nervous to be in the presence of these guys because I’m just a little 5-8 guy. All I have is my work ethic. To be able to play with this team is just surreal. I just wanted to be a part of the program whether it was as a manager or as a walk-on.
DB: You’re just 5-8, but I’ve seen those videos of you dunking on YouTube. How’d that happen?
SS: I did tae kwon do for about 10 years, and I think the stretching helps out with jumping. I haven’t been recorded on my vertical yet, but I think it’s in the low 40s.
DB: You can also kick the backboard though.
SS: There’s this one guy that can kick the rim, but the backboard’s a starting point I guess. Someone just said I could get pretty high so I started off kicking the net and then it was the backboard.
DB: What about the videos where you kick your friends?
SS: That was actually a school project for them. They wanted to do a representation of “Jackass.” They knew my tae kwon do background and experience, so they asked me to kick them. I didn’t mean to hurt them, but it made good videos, you know?
DB: Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube?
SS: Yeah there are just so many videos out there and amazing videos of other people dunking.
DB: What are some of your favorites?
SS:I’ve been watching the Russell Westbrook dunk a lot. The one against Cal.
DB: Anything else?
SS: Magic tricks also. I learned them on YouTube. They’re pretty simple but they amaze people. (Proceeds to do trick,) You take the quarter, shake it, and throw it over there. You shake it ,you throw it back. But it’s stupid because it never left my hand. But if you watch, and I shake it over here and throw it over there, and you still think it’s there, but it’s not.
DB: Oh, wow.
SS: Yeah, so, just little things like that. My senior year in high school I learned how to do the Rubik’s Cube. And I just got it down to 40 seconds. I never get bored; I always find something to do. I’ll do it until I get bored of it. I draw. I did gymnastics for a while, flew airplanes. I just need to take the test for my license because all the training’s done. When I say gymnastics, I don’t mean in spandex going in front of judges. It’s paying five bucks and going into the gym and doing backflips off the wall.
DB: Have you seen that guy on campus?
SS: Oh yeah, actually the ironic thing is that he’s my neighbor. We call him the Ninja but his name is Tom and he wants me to show him how to do some stuff. Here’s some stuff that I haven’t put on YouTube yet. (Takes out camera and shows videos of various gymnastic stunts, accidentally skipping to a picture of a pig.) That’s my pig. That was random. Yeah, I have a pig but she passed away last quarter. I’ve had her since I was seven.
DB: What about Fresno? I’m from there too and people always talk about how much it sucks. Can you help me tell them what’s really up?
SS: Fresno’s a hot place. That’s the stereotype of it, but it’s home. Traffic in Fresno, the slowest it gets is 55. I had to learn how to parallel park here. People say “Fresno? Where’s that?” or if I say “Hella” they’re all “You’re Norcal” or something like that. We’re growing. Home is home. L.A. is a little trafficky. If that’s even a word.
DB: There’s a video of you and Quincy (Poindexter). How do you know him?
SS: We grew up together. He was one of my first friends in elementary school. He walked up to me and was like, “You wanna be my friend?” It was one of those things. He actually moved schools in elementary school, but we played together in middle school at El Capitan, but he transferred to San Joaquin Memorial for high school and he wanted me to go with him. He told me if I went with him I’d be the No. 1 point guard in the nation because I could just throw it up to the Lopez twins and to him.
DB: What’s it like seeing him on the court in college games?
SS: It was fun. The other day when we played Washington, he texted me and said it was funny how we were 19 and 20 years old and that we’re still playing each other and are still rivals.
DB: What’s it like watching the game as a part of a team instead of as an outsider?
SS: It’s a whole different experience. I’ve always loved basketball to play it, but to watch it, I used to only watch highlights. I always see TV shows with husbands like watching TV and being like, “Yeah, yeah, honey give me a beer,” or whatever. I never thought I’d be like that, but whenever they’re playing I’m in a trance with it. Just zoned out.
DB: Do you recognize all the plays?
SS: Yeah, I know them all. I might be fourth-string point guard or whatever, but if something happens, you never know you have to be ready. One of the plays I really like because it’s called Fresno, and hopefully one day I’ll be on the court when coach calls for it.
DB: Yeah, that would be pretty fitting.
SS: A funny story is that I used to tell people I was 5-9 because you don’t want to be short. But when my physical came along, I was marked as 5-7.5, I was like, “No I’m at least 5-8,” because I was telling people I was 5-9 knowing I’m 5-8, so I was like, “Ouch.”
DB:So, you can dunk on a regular hoop, too, right?
SS: Yeah. The only one I haven’t done on a regular hoop is the windmill. I’ve done the windmill in Wooden about four times. But still, 5-7.5 guy. Asian! Give me some credit, right? Half Chinese, half white. My dad is 5-8, and my mom is about 5-4. For some reason, though, I have huge hands and feet. I wear a size 13 shoe. I wore a size 12 in seventh grade. I think that gives me a good base to plant off when I go up for a dunk.