Ben Howland would have you believe that a high school junior varsity team presents challenges for the Bruins.
The UCLA coach is always focused on ““ and only on ““ the next opponent, because he’s just so worried about the latest matchup “nightmare.”
So it would be fair to be skeptical when Howland called Oregon a “very good team.”
But this time, he might have a point.
UCLA heads into the game alone in second place in the Pac-10, having won 13 of their last 16 games. One of those wins was an eight-point comeback victory over the Ducks on their new home floor.
So why worry?
Howland proposes two interrelated reasons.
“They’re 4-1 in the last five games since we played them,” Howland noted.
And when the Bruins played in Eugene, Ore., the coach is quick to point out that the Ducks didn’t have senior forward Joevan Catron at their disposal.
“He’s basically the heart and soul of their team,” junior point guard Lazeric Jones said.
Since returning from injury five games ago, Catron is averaging 16.4 points per game to lead the Duck offensive. With him back in the lineup, Oregon looks like a team reborn.
The Ducks come into Pauley Pavilion fresh off of a shocking sweep of the Washington schools.
The former last-place team pounded the Cougars by 26 and handled conference bully Washington by five.
All this came a week after Oregon beat Stanford in Palo Alto for the first time in 25 years.
“I’m sure they have confidence,” junior guard Malcolm Lee said. “We’re going to have to play inside out. We’re going have to pound it inside.”
Oregon will employ a zone against UCLA defensively, which means the Bruins will be forced to hit their jump shots and, as Lee said, get the ball inside to their big men.
The biggest man is freshman center Joshua Smith, who is coming off of a career-high 19-point performance against St. John’s.
But across the block from Smith, sophomore forward Reeves Nelson will do his best to avoid a repeat of the last contest.
The Bruins’ leading scorer might have something to prove after being held scoreless without a shot attempt in Eugene.
Nelson said that might have been a first.
“I can’t remember (a scoreless game.) I’d have to ask my dad,” he said jokingly.
“I wasn’t that frustrated about it because I didn’t even put up a shot,” Nelson added. “It would have been different if I was 0-for-10.”
Things also might have been different if Nelson hadn’t fouled out putting up with Oregon’s sophomore forward E.J. Singler all game. Singler scored a team-high 15 points in the last contest, but after the game, no Bruin was happy about how he got them, especially Nelson.
Nelson said Singer was “doing a lot of cheap shots” and called the forward “the dirtiest of them all.”
“He was doing some stuff that wasn’t needed,” Smith said. “This week we’re going be physical with them. We’re playing them at home so we’re ready to play.”
Lane unavailable
Sophomore forward Brendan Lane will be unavailable for the game, according to Howland. Lane flew to Boston early in the week to mourn the death of his grandmother.