Following losses to California, Washington and West Virginia at
Pauley Pavilion earlier this season, UCLA men’s basketball
coach Ben Howland decided his team needed a home away from home for
Saturday home games. The compromise? On Friday nights before home
games, the Bruins will stay in a Westwood area hotel. The practice,
which was most notably employed by UCLA coach John Wooden, serves
to limit the distractions and sharpen the focus of the players
prior to the game, according to Howland. “Everyone wants a
piece of these guys when we’re at home,” Howland said.
“This way, I’m the bad guy.” The decision was
made after UCLA (20-5, 10-3 Pac-10) lost three consecutive Saturday
home games. The first time the Bruins stayed overnight in a hotel
before playing in Pauley Pavilion was on Feb. 4, when they easily
disposed of Arizona 84-73. While the notion of staying in a hotel
with a game at an on-campus facility may seem unusual, it is not
unprecedented. The football team stays over in a hotel before
playing its games at the Rose Bowl, though that is derived more
from a logistical standpoint of moving over 85 players from one
location to another. The UCLA women’s golf team also stays in
a hotel when competing at local tournaments, largely due to the
early tee times. The men’s basketball team will only stay at
a hotel for a home game one more time this season before its
match-up with Oregon on Feb. 26, but Howland said he plans to
utilize the maneuver for the foreseeable future. “We’ll
continue to do this during my tenure here,” Howland said.
BRUINS MOVE DOWN: After their first road loss of the season on
Saturday, the Bruins dropped two spots to No. 15 in the latest
Associated Press poll released Monday. UCLA started the week with
an impressive 20-point win at Washington St. on Thursday, but they
were unable to maintain their momentum as they suffered a thrilling
last-second loss at the hands of the Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
As a result of the Bruins’ loss, Pittsburgh, Ohio State and
Boston College were all able to move ahead of the Bruins in the
poll. Pittsburgh had an impressive week, knocking off the same West
Virginia team that beat the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion a few weeks
ago and dismantling a strong Cincinnati team on Sunday. Meanwhile,
Ohio State and Boston College went a combined 4-0 in the past week,
beating the likes of Michigan, Wake Forest and last year’s
runner-up national champion, Illinois. UCLA’s No. 15 ranking
is its lowest in three weeks, when the Bruins had dropped to No. 17
after their four-point loss to West Virginia. Elsewhere in the
Pac-10, Washington moved to No. 20 in the AP poll after their
victory over the Bruins on Saturday. Cal, meanwhile, was given 67
votes and placed just one vote short of the final spot in the top
25 after its victory over Stanford at home on Thursday. With four
votes, Stanford was the only other Pac-10 team to gather votes.
FARMAR ADDED TO NAISMITH: UCLA sophomore point
guard Jordan Farmar was one of 30 players nationwide to be selected
as midseason candidates for the Naismith Trophy. The Naismith
Trophy is given annually to the men’s and women’s
college basketball player of the year. Farmar, who is averaging
13.8 points per game and a Pac-10 best 5.5 assists per game, is now
nominated for the Wooden and Naismith award. Hassan Adams of
Arizona was the only other member of the Pac-10 to be named to the
midseason list.