One of the two freshmen on the No. 5 UCLA men’s basketball team spent this past weekend outplaying four of the conference’s top big men and staking an early claim to Pac-10 freshman-of-the-year honors.
The other one? He played a total of six minutes, finishing with one rebound and one foul on his stat sheet for the weekend.
The first, Kevin Love, has started every game for the Bruins this year, turning in seven double-doubles in the process.
The second, Chace Stanback, is still slowly working his way into coach Ben Howland’s rotation.
And yet, with junior Mike Roll sidelined for at least another three weeks with a ruptured plantar fascia, Stanback’s role may increase as the Bruins continue through Pac-10 play.
Without Roll, more pressure will be on both Stanback and sophomore James Keefe to relieve some of the Bruin starters who have been logging heavy minutes through much of the early season.
“The competition is a lot tougher than high school,” Stanback said. “I’m just fortunate to get in.”
With Love seeming to transition seamlessly to the college game, it’s easy to forget that earning playing time on a team that’s gone to two straight Final Fours is no small task.
Sophomore Russell Westbrook can sympathize with the difficulty Stanback faces, after having to go through a similar transition period himself last season.
“It’s hard,” Westbrook said. “Especially coming from playing the whole game in high school and then coming in and not playing a lot. You just have to get used to it.”
Keefe, somewhat surprisingly, is in a similar position to Stanback. Keefe came on strong toward the end of last season, then had to have shoulder surgery in August.
His gradual recovery led Howland to say that Keefe would be redshirting this year.
But Roll’s injury led Howland to change that decision, and Keefe played four minutes against Stanford and four against California. He’s beginning to get back his physical conditioning and strength and, now in his second year in Howland’s system, seems to have improved the mental side of his game as well.
“(Keefe) is so much further ahead than where he was a year ago because of his knowledge and his experience,” Howland said. “He is doing all of the things defensively that we want him to do. … He is going to play a critical role as we move forward these next 16 games of Pac-10 play.”
So while their minutes may not ever rival Love’s, Stanback and Keefe can, for now, look forward to seeing their own playing time continue to grow.
“It’s a great experience,” Stanback said. “I’ve been waiting to play. I’ve been patient. I was just hoping my time would come.”
COLLISON HOSPITALIZED: According to Howland, junior guard Darren Collison suffered from food poisoning Sunday and had to be taken to the hospital.
The Bruins didn’t practice Monday, but Collison isn’t expected to miss much time and should play Thursday night against Washington.
“He had an IV and fluids,” Howland said. “I believe it was on Sunday night. I haven’t seen him yet; he has been sick for the past two days. I’m assuming it was from something he ate after we got back. … (I’m) not sure if he spent the night. I don’t have the firsthand information. Thankfully it will be something that will be fine.”
LOOKING AHEAD: UCLA will continue Pac-10 play Thursday at home against Washington. Game time is set at 7:30 p.m.
The Bruins split their games against the Huskies last year, winning 96-74 at Pauley Pavilion on New Year’s Eve in 2006, then losing 61-51 at Washington in their final game of the regular season.
UCLA will then go on to play No. 4 Washington State on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
The Bruins swept the Cougars last year, edging them 55-52 at Pauley, then winning 53-45 in Pullman to clinch their second straight Pac-10 title on March 1, 2007.