The replays of Washington’s Tim Morris throwing the ball off UCLA’s Alfred Aboya’s face did not take long to make it onto YouTube.
The replays show Morris struggling to inbound the ball in time with the 6-foot-8-inch Aboya playing smothering defense right in front of him waving his arms and jumping.
Morris then reared back and threw the ball right off Aboya’s nose and out of bounds to avoid getting a five-second violation.
While it is common for players in that situation to throw the ball off an opponent’s leg, throwing the ball off their face, while legal under current NCAA regulations, is rarely seen.
“The first thing you think about is to throw off the leg but I guess he didn’t have enough room in there because he was right in front of our bench,” Aboya said.
Aboya and his teammates described the play as being indicative of how tough the game was, but coach Ben Howland was a lot less forgiving. When asked whether he thought Morris’ actions were acceptable, he replied simply, “No.”
A surprised Aboya quickly regrouped from the play and the game continued.
After the game, Aboya noted with a smile that Morris apologized before retrying the inbound play.
“(I am smiling) “˜cause you never know his intention,” Aboya said. “If he did it on purpose or it was a cheap shot, you’d never know. But he did apologize.”
Controversial plays aside, the Huskies did turn in a much more physical performance than the visiting Bruins.
Lorenzo Romar’s team came into the game on the heels of a four-game losing streak with the last three of those defeats coming at home. The Huskies’ were determined to end the skid Sunday and came out playing tough.
“They were diving on the floor,” guard Russell Westbrook said. “We weren’t diving on the floor. … They are tough. There were a lot of cheap shots going throughout the game. … They did what they had to do to win the game.”
MBAH MAY BE BACK: Forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is listed as probable for Saturday’s game at USC after spraining his left ankle against Arizona on Feb. 2.
The Bruin starter has switched from wearing a boot to an air cast and will have a little extra time to recover, with the team having no game on Thursday night.
Mbah a Moute was sorely missed in UCLA’s 71-61 loss in Seattle on Sunday afternoon. Along with his rebounding and stout defense, the Bruins felt the lack of his prescence on offense.
Without Mbah a Moute on the court at the four, the Huskies had an easier time using the double team against center Kevin Love inside.
“They did a great job pressuring, helping off of our four man quite a bit,” Howland said.
CAN’T BOX OUT BROCKMAN: It is not often that Love and UCLA look at the stat sheet and see that they were outrebounded. But thanks to Washington forward Jon Brockman, the Huskies outboarded the Bruins 44-36. Brockman had a game high 17 rebounds including a couple on the offensive glass following late free throws on back to back Husky possessions.
“Brockman boarded his butt off,” Love said. “We couldn’t block him out on those free throw attempts down the stretch.”
The offensive rebounds went a large way toward sealing the win with the Huskies having an atrocious day at the line, going 16-30. But with their opponents pulling down the rebounds and keeping possession, the Bruins’ chances to mount a comeback slowly dwindled.
“If that would have happened in the first half … it still would have been a big deal,” Love said. “But in the second half when they’re up five or seven points, it’s real tough.”