It can be tough to be perfect, even in a bad way.
Oregon State comes into Pauley Pavilion tonight with just five chances left to avoid a winless Pac-10 season. Statistically speaking, it might be just as hard to go winless as it is to go undefeated.
“It’s kind of like in school,” freshman Kevin Love said. “It’s one of the hardest things to get an A+, but you have to try really hard to fail a class as well. That’s kinda how I look at it. I can show up to class a couple times, do a couple assignments and still get a C or a D. Not that I’ve done that, and I’m not going to do that either. But it’s tough to get an A+ too.”
With only a few blemishes to their season, the No. 6 Bruins (22-3, 10-2 Pac-10) are hoping to avoid the distinction of being the first team to fall to the cellar-dwelling Beavers (6-19, 0-13 Pac-10).
As conference play moves toward the home stretch, avoiding potential distractions becomes a taller order. While the game has all the makings of a lopsided affair in UCLA’s favor, with Oregon State desperate to get a win anywhere on its schedule it becomes a slightly tougher opponent. Under interim coach Kevin Mouton, Oregon State gave Cal a run for its money two weeks ago. The Beavers were down by just two points with two minutes remaining, before losing by five.
“Yeah, (the Beavers are) very dangerous because they’re looking for a win,” guard Russell Westbrook said. “They’re coming and giving their best every night. They’re going to give us their best shot, and we have to prepare.”
One of the biggest threats for UCLA is the potential for a letdown it faces after last weekend. The Bruins went into the Galen Center hoping to avenge their home loss to USC earlier in the season. After 40 hard-fought minutes, the Bruins were able to leave with a 56-46 win, leveling the season series against their crosstown rivals.
While it’s hard to get as excited for coming home to face the winless Beavers, the Bruins are aware of how devastating an upset would be.
“You can’t take a day off in the Pac-10,” forward James Keefe said. “A win against USC would mean nothing if we lose to Oregon State. A loss is a loss, so with that in mind, every game we have to come with the same attention to detail and the same fire. A loss will destroy any win that you had previous.”
Still, with all of the energy and emotion expended at USC on Sunday, a letdown seems only natural. The Bruins sound determined not to let that happen.
“We try to approach it like any other game,” Love said. “I’d be lying if I told you it’s easy to do that, but you just need to find ways to motivate yourself, find ways to pick yourself up. Every game is going to help us in the standings in the Pac-10.”
Coach Ben Howland will be quick to remind his players that the last meeting between the two teams was not exactly a cakewalk. The Bruins had only a four-point lead going into halftime, with the Beavers keeping the game close early. Lathen Wallace came off the bench for a team-high 18 points, but UCLA pulled away in the second half, winning by 23 points.
“My whole thing is, “˜fear no one, respect everyone,'” Howland said. “And we’ve got to come out and play really hard. It was a four-point game at halftime. It wasn’t a game where we had already decided it in the first 30 minutes.”
MCDONALD’S ALL-AMERICANS: Future Bruin guards Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee were both selected to the McDonald’s All-American West team roster on Tuesday. Holiday and Lee are part of UCLA’s top-ranked recruiting class for 2008, making that incoming class the first to include multiple All-Americans for the Bruins since Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo came to Westwood in 2004. Howland has now recruited six McDonald’s Americans, as part of 29 in school history. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on March 26 at the Bradley center in Milwaukee, Wis., and the game will be televised on ESPN.