No matter how dominating the wins have been for the UCLA men’s basketball team over the past few weeks, Ben Howland always seems to be the bearer of bad news come post-game press conference time.
On Saturday night, after the Bruins had just completed a dominating win over the Arizona Wildcats, the UCLA coach announced that Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had injured his left ankle. It was only Mbah a Moute’s second game back since missing two games after sustaining a concussion against the University of Southern California.
“The one disappointing thing is we have another injury here,” Howland said. “Hopefully it’s just a sprain and not too serious.”
While driving in the lane on a second-half fast break, Mbah a Moute rolled his ankle in the midst of making a quick cut to the basket.
The junior forward remained down on the floor for quite some time, as Howland ran out to the court to check the status of his player, who had been playing an integral role in the game.
Prior to that play, Mbah a Moute was doing a strong defensive job against Arizona’s Chase Budinger.
Just as he did last year when he limited Budinger to 10 and 13 points in the Bruins’ two wins over Arizona, Mbah a Moute locked up on the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer, holding him to just 9 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
“Luc did a great job of defending Chase for the majority of the time that he was in the game,” Howland said. “Chase is a great player, and I really thought Luc did an outstanding job defending him.”
And with the shot clock winding down on several Bruin possessions, Mbah a Moute was able to arc some shots over the outstretched arms of Budinger, maintaining the rhythm for UCLA.
Mbah a Moute isn’t the only UCLA player to suffer a new injury shortly after recovering from a concussion. On Thursday, center Lorenzo Mata-Real, the Bruins’ lone senior, landed on his wrist in the closing seconds of the Bruins’ 33-point blowout of Arizona State. It was also Mata-Real’s second game back since sustaining a concussion of his own against USC. Mata-Real was listed as questionable for the Arizona game, but ended up playing 11 minutes.
“I think it’s just me and Luc who are getting injured,” Mata-Real said. “He’ll probably have to go through treatment like I did with my wrist. It’s not a fun process, but hopefully he’s all right.”
COLLISON BREAKS RECORD: Junior guard Darren Collison broke a UCLA record for consecutive free throws in league play on Saturday night. His first made attempt of the night was his 29th straight.
Collison made three more free throws before missing one at the start of the second half, bringing his consecutive total to 32. Collison was four short of Henry Bibby’s UCLA record for overall consecutive free throws made.
“Yeah I was aware of (the record),” Collison said, laughing. “That’s why I missed it.”
HEROES AT THE HALF: Just two weeks after UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel delivered a halftime speech to the fans in Pauley Pavilion, he returned to the center of Nell & John Wooden Court. This time he was accompanied by defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker and newly-hired offensive coordinator Norm Chow.
The three expressed the collective goal of making football a part of UCLA’s “next 100 championships,” and Neuheisel called his staff “the best coaching staff in the country.”
DRIBBLERS: Arizona coach Kevin O’Neill used all but one of his timeouts in the first half, leaving him with just one 30-second timeout as his team entered the second half trailing by 20 points. … Arizona’s only lead was 6-5, which lasted for just 35 seconds. … All the coaches and staff involved in the game wore white sneakers as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Weekend. … Saturday’s game was the 2,500th high-definition telecast on ESPN HD, which was launched on March 30, 2003. … The Wildcats, who ranked 15th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 40.3 percent, shot just 22.2 percent against the Bruins.