UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland held a teleconference with the media Sunday and expanded upon an array of topics regarding the 2010-2011 season. Among the issues discussed were the stellar play of Tyler Lamb so far, health concerns, the battle for the starting point guard position and the improvement of Reeves Nelson.
On Tyler Lamb’s progress:
“Tyler Lamb is the most ready of any of the new freshman to play extensively, and that’s from his high school background. He’s really competitive and tough. I’m excited about his defensive capabilities. … I expect him to play a lot.”
On what the team does to keep the players fit:
“This was our ninth practice today, and we need to stay healthy. One of the things our trainer has our players do just about every day after practice is get in the cold tub. That’s something that players never did 10 to 15 years ago like they do now. Now, it’s a daily thing and it really helps your body recover.”
On how much progress the team has made so far:
“We really are moving slow. We’re going slower than I would like; there’s so many things that are new to everybody.”
On the point-guard competition between junior Jerime Anderson and junior transfer Lazeric Jones:
“They’re both competing well. Jerime benefits from having the experience and having been in the program for a couple of years. Zeke I think is really doing a nice job defensively for us. The good news is, they’re really competing hard against each other every day, and they’re making each other better. There will be times for sure when they’ll be in together at the same time.”
On impressions from Saturday’s scrimmage:
“The guy who really stood out yesterday in scrimmage was Tyler Lamb. Tyler was 5-for-6 from three in the scrimmage, and he hadn’t really shot it well prior to that in any of the practices. Dave Wear played well, (Tyler) Honeycutt and Reeves (Nelson) did a nice job, as did Malcolm Lee, the guys you’d expect. But Tyler Lamb really stood out because he’s a fresh face, and I was really happy about that.”
On his two centers, Josh Smith and Anthony Stover:
“Josh is working on changing ends of the floor. When you get into a game where you’ve got to go up and down and change ends ““ he’s got to really work at that. I think Anthony has done a nice job for us, especially defensively, and he really runs the floor well. He has the unenviable task of trying to guard Josh when Josh does get to the low block, because he’s just so big and strong. I’ve been pleased with both. The interesting thing is that these guys are going to be our two centers, and neither one has played a second of Division I basketball in a game.”
On how Reeves Nelson has looked:
“One thing you’ll notice is how cut he is. In other words, his body is much leaner. He was never fat; he was at about 10 percent body fat last year, and he’s at 5.4 (percent) right now. He’s really lean and he’s really learning better. He has better stamina, and he’s definitely shooting the ball with range with a lot more confidence and success. He has really improved his shot.”