You can add poorly refrigerated pasta to the blame list of preseason misfortunes for the UCLA men’s basketball team.
Even at their most populated practice since the season started, yet another Bruin had to leave early; senior forward Nikola Dragovic did on Monday, feeling the noxious effects of food poisoning.
On the plus side for coach Ben Howland and his team, at least this latest setback appears to be temporary.
“A food poisoning thing isn’t like an ankle or a knee or anything drastic,” Howland said. “He’ll get over it. It’s just unfortunate.”
The Bruins have had plenty of real injuries to worry about in the early going, but they actually managed to participate in some full-scale competition during Monday’s practice, the only one of the year open to the media and various donors who filled a handful of the blue seats above Nell and John Wooden Court.
Many of those eyes were trained on sophomore guard Jerime Anderson, who returned for his first full-contact practice of the year ““ the team’s 15th ““ after being held out for a recurring groin injury.
Howland said he will continue to be cautious with his starting point guard and that he would not suit him up for the team’s first exhibition game this Wednesday.
“We’re just not trying to overextend him right now,” Howland said. “I want to be very careful.”
Senior guard Michael Roll and freshman forward Brendan Lane will also be absent from the floor in this week’s game against Concordia, both nursing sprained ankles.
Lane was the only player to sit out for the entirety of Monday’s practice. Roll practiced some without contact, but spent the second half icing his ankle.
“We want to be smart with that too,” Howland said. “We’re not worried about Mike playing in the exhibition game.
“He’s got a lot of experience; we just need to get him healthy.”
The team’s youth and their lack of numbers have also changed the structure of practice somewhat. There were no full-court, five-on-five drills in the two and a half hour set.
“We haven’t been able to do a whole lot of up and downs, so fundamentals have been the main focus,” senior forward James Keefe said.
This year’s players lack the experience of graduated veterans like Darren Collison and Josh Shipp which was abundant on last year’s squad, so many of them are using this time to figure out their new coach’s particular style.
“I think it’s going to put discipline into our group,” sophomore forward Drew Gordon said. “We haven’t played underneath (Howland) for as long as Darren and Josh and all them, so as much as he’s feeling us out, we’re feeling him out too.”
Freshman forward Reeves Nelson, who sat out the last two practices with sickness, was especially vocal throughout Howland’s on-court instruction, making sure he knew his role in the scheme.
“I’ll admit I mess up sometimes, but he’s been really good with me just trying to teach me how to do his way,” Nelson said.
Nelson has led the team in rebounds during practice, according to Howland’s statistics, and has the potential to see minutes this year for that very reason.
“Whenever he recruited me, (Howland) always told me he was going to be really in depth,” Nelson. “He’s been true to his word in that respect.”
Nelson is one of the many young players on the team who has a high likelihood of benefiting from these early match-ups, such as Wednesday’s exhibition game, especially if some regulars are going to be on the sidelines.
“With the injuries, a lot of different guys have stepped up,” Keefe said. “We’re going to have a lot more playing time and it’ll be good for us to get that experience that we need.”