« December 2007 |
Main
| February 2008 »
 Bruin Coach Ben Howland had encouraging news on the injury front at today’s news conference, starting with forward Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, who suffered a concussion against USC:
"Luc is practicing today. He had a CT [scan] yesterday, just for [a] precaution; it’s all negative. He worked out for about an hour yesterday and felt fine afterwards. Hopefully, he’ll have a good result again today.
"Lorenzo [Mata-Real] obviously played on Saturday and he should be fine. [Michael Roll] is at least a few [more] weeks."
Howland said having Mbah A Moute back will help defensively: "He’s one of our best defenders. Having more depth is obviously a huge factor for us, especially on the perimeter."
>> On the Sun Devils, Howland said, "They’re really good. They’re coming off two tough losses at home where they had a chance to win. [James] Harden is one of the best players in the conference. Just look at his numbers and what he’s been able to do as a true freshman; it’s really astounding. He does a lot of things that are hard to deal with. [Jeff] Pendergraph is playing great; [Ty] Abbott’s an outstanding shooter, he really played well on the road in their last road trip to Northern California. So it will be a very, very tough challenge for us.
"They’re very well coached, very disciplined, the kids are playing very much together. They run a Princeton offense, so they have a lot of little, special, quick hitters out of it.
"They play all zone. They play a little 1-3-1 and 1-3-1 trap, but primarily it’s a 3-2 match-up zone that’s pretty aggressive and they pressure the ball, play the passing lanes and match-up on the guys in their area."
>> On the Arizona game Saturday, Howland said he hadn’t researched the Wildcats yet, but said, "I know they’re very good and playing really well, to no one’s surprise. They have outstanding players. In Lute [Olson]’s absence, Kevin [O’Neill] has done a great job. Their defense is very, very good. [Jerryd] Bayless is one of the best players in the conference, another freshman. When he was out of the lineup, they lost a couple of games. When he’s in the lineup, their record is close to being perfect."
Howland also was very pleased with the win at Oregon, noting, "We won a very important game with a lot of our key guys injured. To be able to put it all together in that kind of difficult environment was a very satisfying win."
Asked about the abuse heaped on freshman center Kevin Love, Howland said he received a call from Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny. "He called yesterday," he said. "He called for me and I wasn’t in, but it was nice of him to do that. That’s behind us now; we’re not worried about that." He noted that Oregon Coach Ernie Kent addressed the crowd about their behavior before the game against USC last Saturday.
 It’s said that there is no off-season for sports any more. That’s certainly true for some of the Bruins as four stars from UCLA’s fall women’s teams are in training with the U.S. National Teams.
Football:
>> UCLA announced today that the home game against Arizona scheduled for Sept. 27 has been moved to Sept. 20 at the request of television. The Bruins will now play Fresno State, Tennessee, at BYU and Arizona on consecutive weekends before their first bye.
>> Bruin fullback Michael Pitre, lost for the entire 2007 season due to injury, is filing for a sixth year of eligibility with the NCAA. He has been told by UCLA that his scholarship will be honored for his final year in school, whether he is allowed to play or not.
Softball:
>> The pre-season polls are out and perennial NCAA title contender UCLA is considered good, but not great. The Bruins were ranked 10th in the nation in the ESPN/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll and 17th in the NFCA national coaches poll. In the Pac-10 coaches poll, the Bruins were ranked third behind Arizona (pre-season national title favorite) and Arizona State. UCLA starts play Feb. 8 at Easton Stadium on campus.
Men’s Golf:
>> The Bruins were ranked second nationally going into this week’s PING Invitational in Arizona, but have fallen well back after two rounds of the three-round tournament. Senior Kevin Chappell was the individual leader, however, with the final round being played today.
Men’s Tennis:
>> The match between No. 9 UCLA and No. 17 Pepperdine that was re-scheduled for Monday has been moved to today at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, beginning at 3 p.m.
Men’s Track & Field:
>> Junior Laef Barnes was the highlight for the Bruins in the Washington Preview in Seattle, running the mile in a lifetime best of 4:03.28. That’s good enough for a provisional NCAA qualifying mark for the indoor nationals in his first race of the season.
Men’s Volleyball:
>> Fourth-ranked UCLA (6-3) will play the first of four home matches with a non-conference tilt against Cal Baptist (top-ranked in the NAIA) on Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion starting at 7 p.m. It’s also Club and High School team night and teams can register by calling (310) 206-3444.
Women’s Gymnastics:
>> The No. 8 Bruins barely got by No. 9 Stanford, 195.050 to 195.025 last Sunday, as senior Tasha Schwikert scored a needed 9.8 on the floor exercise to seal the win and got exactly that score. Anna Li and Brittani McCullough went 1-2 in the all-around for the third straight meet, but Kristina Comforte suffered a knee injury during the floor exercise and had to be carried off the floor. She had an MRI on Monday and will see a doctor today for further review.
Women’s Soccer:
>> UCLA’s dynamic duo of striker Lauren Cheney and midfielder Tina DiMartino have been called up to the training camp for the U.S. National Team, taking place at The Home Depot Center in Carson. Both played on the winning Four Nations Tournament team in China and the camp that starts on Feb. 1 will select players for the Algarve Cup in Portugal (March 5-12) and the CONCACAF Olympic Women’s Qualifying Tournament in Juarez, Mexico (April 2-13).
Women’s Volleyball:
>> All-American setter Nellie Spicer (pictured) joined former Bruin senior outside hitter Rachell Johnson with the U.S. National Team in Colorado Springs, Colo., earning an invitation from USA Volleyball. She will report Feb. 18 and is in the pool of players who could participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Women’s Water Polo:
>> No. 1-ranked UCLA beat Colorado State, 15-2 and Indiana, 15-6, on Sunday to finish the Michigan Invitational undefeated at 4-0. Junior forward Katie Rulon scored 12 goals over the weekend’s play to earn Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Co-Player of the Week honors with San Jose State goalie Kendra Adama. The Spartans were also 4-0 on the weekend.
Nellie Spicer photo courtesy UCLA.
The Times' UCLA football beat reporter Chris Foster notes that walk-on, back-up quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who played well in the Las Vegas Bowl against BYU and terribly in the regular-season loss to Notre Dame, will transfer to Sacramento State.
Multiple sources are reporting that UCLA is interested in former San Diego State quarterback Kevin Craft, who just completed his sophomore season at Mt. SAC. The San Bernardino Sun reported that Bruin coach Rick Neuheisel offered Craft a scholarship last weekend and that Craft has also been contacted by Hawaii and SMU. According to the Sun report, Mt. SAC coach Bob Jastrab said "It's kind of a last-minute deal. They just hired [Norm] Chow to be their offensive coordinator. They saw him on film amd liked what they saw. I think he's going to make a decision in the next couple of days."
Craft completed more than 60% of his passes at Mt. SAC last season, throweing for 4,231 yards and 44 touchdowns.
Bruin freshman center Kevin Love received his third U.S. Bank/Pac-10 Player of the Week honor today for his performance in the two games against the Oregon schools on the road last weekend.
Love recorded his 10th and 11th double-doubles of the year and averaged 21.0 points and 19.5 rebounds per game. He also shot 63.6% (14 for 22) from the field and 50.0% (2 for 4) from three-point range.
There’s no doubt that Love played brilliantly, but what about Bruin guard Darren Collison? He had career highs of 22 and 33 points in two games, was 19-19 from the foul line, had nine assists, three steals and only two turnovers.
In addition to working diligently to keep a very good recruiting class together, new Bruin football Coach Rick Neuheisel and his assistant coaches have been talking to new recruits, and reportedly having some success. The Bruins are in hot pursuit of several defensive players:
>> Otis Jones of Leuzinger (6-2, 275), a defensive tackle who previously made an oral commitment to Arizona State.
>> Defensive end Eugene Germany (6-4, 280) of Mt. SAC and formerly of Pomona High School. He originally attended Michigan, but transferred back home and has two years of eligibility remaining.
>> Oak Park High School linebacker Sean Westgate (5-11, 200), reported by the Daily News as having made an oral commitment to UCLA over the weekend, after committing earlier to Arizona.
The first day of the national signing period is Feb. 6.
UCLA moved up to No. 5 in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls today, passing conference rival Washington State, which dropped to ninth in both polls. Memphis stayed at No. 1, followed by Kansas, Duke and North Carolina and then the Bruins. Duke and North Carolina will play each other in Chapel Hill in the first of two meetings this season on Feb. 6.
Stanford moved up to 14th in both polls, but was the only other Pac-10 school to be ranked. Arizona, USC and Arizona State received votes in both polls.
RPI watchers will note that five Pac-10 teams have ratings of 45 or better, usually the number needed to get into the NCAA Tournament. Arizona has the highest RPI of any Pac-10 school at No. 7 now, followed by Washington State (10), UCLA (12), Stanford (29) and USC (38). Dangerously low are Oregon (52), Washington (88), Arizona State (90), Cal (92) and Oregon State (235).
 A nice weekend for the Bruin basketball teams and a great win for the men’s volleyball team against No. 2 Pepperdine in Malibu on Saturday were the highlights of a busy week:
Baseball:
>> Last week: The Bruins were listed as No. 17 in the preseason coaches poll. UCLA was ranked No. 1 by Baseball America and No. 7 by Perfect Game Crosschecker.
>> This week: The annual Alumni Game was moved to Feb. 16 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The heavy rains, coupled with the renovation of the field, will make play Feb. 2 too difficult.
Football:
>> Last week: Legendary offensive coordinator Norm Chow agreed to join Rick Neuheisel’s staff Monday, former Bruin strength and conditioning coach Mike Linn agreed to return Tuesday and former Bruin running backs coach Wayne Moses came aboard Wednesday. Former Bruin head coach Karl Dorrell was hired as the wide receivers coach of the Miami Dolphins.
>> This week: Recruiting is the name of the game this week as the signing period begins Wednesday, Feb. 6. Word is that Neuheisel has been in more homes than a Century 21 agent, many of them for prospects not already committed to UCLA.
Tennis:
>> Last week: The men’s-women’s doubleheader scheduled for last Friday was rained out. The Bruin men were supposed to face BYU and the women were scheduled to play No. 13 Baylor. The women’s match will be played Feb. 26, but there has been no announcement on whether the UCLA-BYU men’s match will be played.
>> This week: The Bruin men will be busy, playing Pepperdine on Monday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center (weather permitting) and then heading to the Bay Area for matches against Stanford on Friday and California on Saturday. The women (1-0), ranked third in the nation, will take on Irvine at the LATC on Thursday and then head to Malibu to play Pepperdine on Friday.
Men’s Basketball:
>> Last week: Brilliant weekends by both Kevin Love and Darren Collison highlighted No. 7 UCLA’s two wins at Oregon and Oregon State. Playing in noisy McArthur Court in Eugene on Thursday, Collison had a career high of 22 and Love had 26 points and 18 rebounds as the Bruins pulled out an 80-75 win with a late rally. On Saturday in Corvallis, Collison had another career high with 33 points and Love added 16 and a career-best 21 rebounds as UCLA ran away from the Beavers, 85-62.
>> This week: The Bruins are 18-2 overall and 6-1 in Pac-10 play and are in first place by a game over Stanford and Washington State. Much-improved Arizona State (14-5, 4-3) comes to Pauley Pavilion on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. game and Arizona (14-6, 4-3) invades on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Men’s Soccer:
>> Last week: Senior defenders Brandon Owens and Greg Folk were selected in the MLS Supplemental Draft. Owens was the 10th pick in the first round and went to DC United while Folk was chosen by the Los Angeles Galaxy with the fourth pick of the third round. That brings the total number of UCLA players selected by MLS teams to five.
Men’s Volleyball:
>> Last week: The fifth-ranked Bruins won a major victory Saturday, defeating No. 2 Pepperdine in Malibu for the first time since 2004, in five games, 21-30, 30-20, 27-30, 30-28 and 15-12. The win improved UCLA’s record to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. UCLA dropped a five-set match to USC at the Galen Center on Wednesday.
>> This week: The Bruins have two matches this week, both at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA will face Cal Baptist in a non-conference match on Wednesday, then host UC Irvine on Friday.
Women’s Basketball:
>> Last week: Kathy Olivier’s young team improved to 6-3 in Pac-10 play with two wins over the Oregon schools in Pauley Pavilion. UCLA rebounded from a 49-35 deficit with 10:10 to go to outscore Oregon, 19-2, late in the second half and held on for a 63-59 win Thursday. The same thing happened Saturday as a 12-0 run in the second half helped UCLA defeat Oregon State, 74-70. Senior Lindsey Pluimer had 19 points for the Bruins in each game and junior Tierra Henderson had a career-high 16 against the Beavers.
>> This week: UCLA (11-9 overall) heads to the Bay Area for two difficult games against national powers No. 8 California, on Thursday at 7 p.m., and No. 7 Stanford, at Maples Pavilion on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Women’s Golf:
>> Last week: Bruin All-American Tiffany Joh was selected to play for the U.S. team in the Curtis Cup against a British-Irish amateur team on May 30-June 1 at The Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. She’s the first Bruin in 20 years to be selected to play in the Curtis Cup.
Women’s Gymnastics:
>> This week: The No. 8 Bruins (5-0) host No. 9 Stanford (1-1) today at 2 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion in the annual John Wooden Challenge, then head to Seattle to face Washington on Friday evening.
Women’s Soccer:
>> Last week: UCLA head Coach Jillian Ellis was named as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She will remain as the Bruin coach, but will no longer be responsible for the U.S. Under-20 squad, which she had been coaching.
Women’s Water Polo:
>> Last week: The top-ranked Bruins began their season Saturday, crushing No. 11 Arizona State and then No. 8 UC San Diego by identical 14-5 scores. Junior Katie Rulon had four goals in each game to lead UCLA in scoring.
>> This week: UCLA continues play in Michigan today against Colorado State and Indiana. The Bruins will return home and take a short trip Saturday to play Loyola Marymount.
Lindsey Pluimer photo courtesy UCLA.
The Bruins are now 18-2 overall and 6-1 in first place in the Pac-10 Conference after an 85-62 win at Oregon State. Of note:
>> The Bruins took control with a 42-23 second-half flurry and had control of the game after a 17-1 run to start the half.
>> Darren Collison had a career-high 33 points and was a startling 13-13 on foul shots. He had 55 points in the two Oregon games, both career highs. He was 16-26 (61.5%) from the field in the two games.
>> Kevin Love had his 11th double-double in 20 games, 16 points and a career-high (and freshman record) 21 rebounds. For the weekend, he had 42 points and 39 rebounds!
The Bruin defense picked up in the second half, and OSU ended up shooting only 36% for the game after a 48% first half. The Bruins had a 31-21 edge in rebounding (15-5 in the second half). The Bruins also had 15 points off turnovers to only eight for OSU.
It was a solid win for UCLA over an underdog Oregon State team, but the Bruins will have to play a lot better to beat Arizona State and/or Arizona this coming week at Pauley Pavilion.
Darren Collison equaled his career high of 22 points with a basket in the first minute of the second half. He has another 18 minutes to set a new high, and the Bruins are out to a 47-39 lead with two baskets to open the half.
>> Four more Bruin points and it's an 8-0 UCLA run to start the half. It's a 51-39 Bruin lead with 15:52 to go. Collison has his career high at 24 points.
>> Explosion! Collison now has 29 points on 9-10 FG and 9-9 FT, and the Bruins are on a 17-1 run to start the second half. OSU still doesn't have a field goal after 5:36 in the second half. The Bruins are up, 60-40.
>> Oregon State finally got a field goal to cut the Bruin lead to 62-46, but UCLA ran away with a 17-4 edge in the first 8:17 of the second half while the Beavers were 0-10 to start the half.
>> Just as with the USC game Thursday, Oregon State has been crushed in the second half. The Beavers lost the second half to the Trojans, 41-19, and it's UCLA 34, OSU 15 so far with 4:33 to play (UCLA 77-54 overall).
>> Collison and Kevin Love finally sat down with a minute and a half to go. Collison had 33 tonight — a career high — and 55 in the two games on the Oregon trip. Love had 21 rebounds tonight — a freshman record — and he's the sixth player in UCLA history to have 21 or more rebounds in a game. Only Willie Naulls, Bill Walton, Lew Alcindor, David Greenwood and Sidney Wicks have had more in a game.
Final score: UCLA 85, Oregon State 62
Luc Richard Mbah A Moute won't play tonight, but the Bruins are running. After a 0-4 start, guards Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison are releasing early and center Kevin Love has flung the ball down court twice after rebounds for easy scores. UCLA leads, 7-4, after three minutes.
>> With 12:05 to play, Lorenzo Mata-Real comes into the game after missing the Oregon contest with a concussion. The Bruins are leading, 14-11, and James Keefe and Nikola Dragovic are playing in the first half.
>> There's 8:19 to play in the half and OSU is shooting only 31%, with seven turnovers. The Bruins are up, 23-13, and are shooting 43% from the floor.
>> A cause for concern: Josh Shipp's shooting has been poor this weekend — just 2-8 in the Oregon game Thursday and only 1-5 tonight.
>> Now the Beavers are shooting the ball like they haven't been all season: up to 48% to just 40% for the Bruins. And they are 4-8 from three-point range. Freshman Lathen Wallace has a career high of 12 points in just the first half! All that and OSU is up by one, 35-34, with 3:11 to play in the half. (Let's remember that USC led OSU, 27-25, at the half Thursday before a 41-19 second half and 68-44 final.)
>> Darren Collison had a career high of 22 points Thursday and has 20 in the first half tonight! But the Bruins are only up four after giving up 48% shooting to OSU in the first half. The Beavers also out-rebounded UCLA, 17-16. The Beaver bench outscored the Bruin bench, 16-0.
Halftime score: UCLA 43, Oregon State 39
|
|
Subscribe to this Blog What is RSS?