BERKELEY “”mdash; It came down to a board game. Too bad for Ben
Howland all his front court players played like pawns.
In the waning moments of UCLA’s 76-62 loss to California
on Saturday at Haas Pavilion, Howland shuttled a bevy of Bruin big
men on and off of the court to try to combat the Bears’
domination of the offensive glass. None of them ““ neither
starters Michael Fey and T.J. Cummings nor reserves Ryan Hollins
and Josiah Johnson ““ made much of a difference.
Cal freshman Leon Powe pushed around whomever Howland inserted
into the lineup on his way to a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Bears outrebounded UCLA 20-14 in the second half, pulling
down most of their eight offensive boards during the game’s
decisive final seven minutes.
“That was the difference in the game,” Howland said.
“They went and got the rebounds. It’s really really
disappointing.”
UCLA trailed 57-52 when Powe began his reign of terror on the
offensive glass. The odds-on favorite to win the Pac-10 Newcomer of
the Year award missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but snatched the
rebound to give Cal another chance.
After fellow-freshman Dominic McGuire missed both free throws on
the ensuing possession, Powe once again won the battle for the
ball. He shoved aside Cummings, gobbled up the rebound and laid the
ball softly off the glass for two, giving the Bears their largest
lead since early in the second half.
Powe pulled down two more offensive rebounds in the closing
moments, and freshman Marquise Kately and senior Amit Tamir added
one apiece.
The freshman, who said he was not hindered by the effects of a
surgically repaired left knee, credited an adjustment he made
at halftime for his own standout performance
“I told the team, they were leaning hard on us so we could
spin off of them and try to go hard to the glass,” he said.
“On the free throws, I just backed up, let them lean on me
and then released when the shot went up.”
Howland, however, attributed the 245-pound Powe’s success
to physicality rather than finesse.
“(Powe) is strong, aggressive, tough, and he wanted it
more,” Howland said. “He just pushed us around, and
knocked us underneath the basket. Physicality is a big part of this
game.”
Cal’s second-chance opportunities were particularly
troublesome for UCLA because the Bruins were playing tough defense
throughout most of the second half. Unlike the squad’s
previous two losses against Stanford and Arizona, the Bears were
not generating open looks at the basket, nor were they converting
the few that they did get.
But what they did do was get to the foul line ““ a
season-high 38 times, in fact. Though they missed 16 of those,
crashing the boards on errant free throws proved to be their best
offensive tactic.
“The second-chance points were really frustrating,”
Hollins said. “They’re a good team, and Powe’s a
good rebounder, but it’s more a lack of concentration. We
have to get better at that.”