Aboya: "We all love to be on the road"

A half-dozen Bruin players took time out on Tuesday to drop by the Morgan Center Press Room to talk to reporters about the upcoming Washington weekend. The common theme was how difficult the trip – not to mention the games – would be. A sampling:

>> Forward James Keefe was asked if Washington State’s 5-4 record in the conference was unexpected, given their high pre-season ranking. "It is surprising a little bit, but with the Pac-10 the way it’s been this year, the margin between the teams is just so small that anyone can get beat on any given day. Us being UCLA, everyone gives us their best shot. And they’re definitely going to give us their best shot come Thursday night."

>> Forward Alfred Aboya said "On this team, we all love to be on the road. We like that ‘us against the world’ type of thing. The crowd doesn’t bother us that much." Noting that the Washington weekend was only that – a weekend – he didn’t seem too concerned about the tough travel. "Pullman is just like a business trip. You go, you play, you get the win, you come back."

>> Guard Russell Westbrook spoke like a native Southern Californian about the trip north to Pullman: "I heard it’s snowing already. It’s in the middle of nowhere, that’s all I know. It’s still going to be cold when we get off." He’s right about that. Wednesday’s weather is expected to have a high (!) of 33 degrees and a low of 29, with light snow and a wind chill equivalent to about 18 degrees F.

>> Wing Josh Shipp said he’s noticing teams paying more and more attention to him and his sharpshooting from the three-point line. "A lot of people are definitely running at me a lot harder," he said. "I have to use my shot fake more and try to create other shots for other players."

>> Freshman center Kevin Love was frustrated by the continuing injury bug that’s hit the Bruins. "It seems like – especially in the Pac-10 – we can’t be completely healthy for more than a week. When that happens, we’ll be a lot better team – and that’s scary for us – I just wish for the rest of the season, we were healthy the whole time. If we can stay healthy, I think we can make a run for whatever we want to accomplish."

He was also wary of Washington State, especially after their three-point barrage against the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion that closed a double-digit deficit to just three points in the final minute and a half of the game. "If you were to get up on them 15-20 points, they can always come back. They did that against Arizona State. That’s a team you just have to keep the press on, never let up. You saw the game against us, they almost pulled out a win or sent it into overtime by shooting the ball and making seven or eight threes in a row."

And given that WSU has lost two home games in a row, he noted "They definitely are more dangerous just because they’re going to be real hungry coming into Thursday." And recognizing the obvious problems caused by the loss of Luc Richard Mbah A Moute to injury, Love laughed about a silver lining if Mbah A Moute has to stay home and not make the trip north with the team this weekend. "He can rehab his leg some more and there’s more room for me on the charter."