The sight of Joshua Smith hanging his head after a pick-and-roll has become a familiar one.
Whether it’s trying to set a pick on offense or coming outside of the paint to “hedge” and cut off a guard on defense, the 6-foot-10-inch, 305-pound freshman can’t seem to shake the foul calls on the ball screen.
It was there again Friday against Washington. With less than three minutes to play, Smith was whistled for his fifth foul after bumping into Isaiah Thomas trying to hedge, all but killing UCLA’s chances of a comeback.
Smith, averaging 3.1 fouls per game, isn’t doing something right when it comes to the screen, and coach Ben Howland is out to change that.
“We’re going to have to rethink how he’s going to play those,” Howland admitted after the game.
He added that Smith might have to take a step back when defending to avoid the foul call.
“We’ve talked about it throughout the year, as being a plug versus a hedge,” Howland said. “Which means he’s going to have little guys coming right at him all the time, trying to cross him over, and you have to be able to play defense without reaching or gambling.”
Sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt thinks that his teammate’s size plays a factor in some of the calls.
“Isaiah’s a smart point guard,” Honeycutt said. “A lot of times Josh was there, but he’s just running into him because Josh is the biggest dude out there on the floor, and (Thomas) is the smallest. They tend to pick on the big guy sometimes.”
Smith wasn’t the only one who found himself in foul trouble. Three Bruins had two at halftime, and Honeycutt picked up his third early in the second.
“Two of (his fouls) were him trying to gamble,” Howland said of Honeycutt. “We can’t afford him to be in foul trouble.”
Foul trouble has been a recurring theme for UCLA (9-5, 1-1 Pac-10) so far this year, but Honeycutt said that doesn’t mean it’s time to turn down the dial on defense.
“I don’t think you can play too aggressive,” Honeycutt said.
Wounded by the dogs
Junior point guard Lazeric Jones suffered a tendon injury to the middle finger of his right hand during the first half Friday. Howland described the injury as a “mallet finger” and said that Jones would have to wear a splint 24 hours a day for at least the next month.
Howland said he limited Jones in the second half due to the injury and the fact that he was lacking aggressiveness.
“It hurt to have Zeke get injured, not having his scoring punch in there,” Howland said. “We need him, and he’s been doing a good job and looking to score, so I’m hoping he’s going to be able to learn to play with this thing and be OK.”
Also dinged up was sophomore forward Reeves Nelson, who took an elbow to the mouth on the first possession of the game. The blow loosened a tooth and caused some bleeding, but Nelson still went on to post a double-double.
“Luckily I had my mouthpiece,” Nelson said, “because it probably would have gotten knocked out.”
Around the Pac-10
After sweeping the Los Angeles schools, Washington currently sits atop the conference table with a 2-0 record. Oregon State also finished the first week of Pac-10 play undefeated after sweeping Arizona and Arizona State.