With the midway point of the Pac-10 season fast approaching, UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland wanted more rebounds out of his freshman forward Reeves Nelson.
Even though Nelson is the Bruins’ leading rebounder by a wide margin, the demanding Howland wanted more.
Nelson had an idea: Stop being so nice.
“I don’t think he noticed that me and Jerime (Anderson), or me and Tyler (Honeycutt), or me and Malcolm (Lee) would have our hands on the ball at the same time, and I would just let it go because I know we’re on the same team,” Nelson said. “But I told (Howland) if he wanted me to, I’ll just take all those, too, so I just decided to do that this last game.”
The result: 12 rebounds to go along with his 14 points for his first collegiate double-double in the Bruins’ (10-11, 5-4 Pac-10) win over Oregon State last Saturday.
Freshman forward Honeycutt said Nelson told the team prior to the Oregon State game that he wasn’t going to let anyone take rebounds away from him.
“He said that’s not going to happen,” Honeycutt said. “Then he goes for 12 rebounds.”
The development of both Nelson and Honeycutt has been one of the more crucial factors in the Bruins’ improved play.
Honeycutt has started in the last seven games for the Bruins and is the team’s leading rebounder in Pac-10 play with an average of 6.8 rebounds a game.
Nelson, after starting eight consecutive games, has come off the bench in the last four games and has averaged 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in those games.
Howland doesn’t believe that coming off the bench has resulted in the increased overall production from Nelson. Rather, it is a simple matter of settling into a rhythm and adjusting to the college game.
“I just think he’s improving, whether he comes off the bench or not,” Howland said. “He’s done (a) real nice job at scoring for us inside, and our team is doing a good job finding him. They understand that if we get him the ball in good situations, he’s going to have a good chance to deliver.”
Nelson accounted for only one difference between starting and coming off the bench.
“The only difference is I just do the jump ball (when I start),” Nelson said.
Reaching the halfway point of the Pac-10 schedule, both freshmen feel that they are the most comfortable they have been at any point this season.
“I feel a lot more confident, just in my ability to help the team win,” Nelson said. “Just against the other players because I’ve seen every team and what they’re going to throw against us.”
Honeycutt is one who is thankful for the playing time he is getting. After missing the off-season with an injured back and the first few weeks of the season with a stress reaction in his right tibia, Honeycutt is glad that he chose not to redshirt.
“That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to redshirt because you get so much experience from these games,” Honeycutt said. “Especially coming into next year, we already know what to expect. You’re not going in there with question marks.”
Senior guard Michael Roll has seen a tremendous amount of improvement from the two freshmen throughout the season thus far.
“Reeves is a huge scoring threat down low, and Tyler does a good job of just doing what we need ““ getting in the middle of the zone,” Roll said.
Like Nelson, Honeycutt recorded his first collegiate double-double last weekend with 13 points and 10 rebounds in an overtime loss to Oregon. Honeycutt said it was just a matter of producing and living up to the expectations the team has for him.
“Our freshmen that are playing a lot of minutes, notably Honeycutt and Reeves, are all playing major minutes, and they’re getting better and better,” Howland said. “It’s been good.”
Nelson said his double-double last Saturday was a nice accolade to have, yet he is solely focused on doing whatever he can to help the team win games.
“It’s obviously a big step, but I just try to get every rebound I can get and score whenever my team needs me to.”