Howland: 'Boy, were they really impressive'

Bruin Coach Ben Howland said he didn’t take much time to savor UCLA’s big win over Arizona State on Thursday night. He already was thinking about Arizona and the Wildcats’ 80-69 win at USC.

"I did watch that game when I got home from 11 to 1 in the morning," he told reporters on a conference call Friday afternoon, "but I couldn’t rewind things. But boy, were they really impressive. Chase [Budinger] was fantastic last night; obviously [Jawann] McClellan was playing like a veteran senior . . . he had a couple of huge offensive rebounds off of missed free throws late in the game that were huge plays. [Jerryd] Bayless, he’s really, really good. [Jordan] Hill is playing great. Nick Wise, just look at his body and how strong he is and what a great job he did in the off-season between last year and this year. Those five guys right there are very, very impressive.

"There’s no question that they’re a very good defensive team. They’re doing a great job of playing unselfishly and getting their key guys looks. Budinger and Bayless are getting a lot of good looks and everybody is playing off of that."

Asked if the current edition of the Wildcats under interim Coach Kevin O’Neill resembled past teams playing for Lute Olson (on personal leave), Howland said, "I see a lot of similarities, I really do. They are running a lot of the same sets and the same stuff. Especially in this last four-game run, it reminds me of how they played in years past."

Howland did have some idea about why Arizona’s defense is better this season: "I think they just have some older guys there now. It comes down to personnel and their personnel lends itself to being a good defensive team. They’re smaller but they’re very, very good, and Hill, they’re sending everything toward him and he’s swatting it back at you; he’s a very good shot-blocker. He’s pretty much in league with the Lopezes [from Stanford] in that respect."

The Bruin coach said he expects Arizona to play man-to-man defense. "They’re not changing for anybody. [O’Neill’s] going to do what they do. They’re not intimidated by anybody or anything and we know it’s going to be a really difficult challenge tomorrow."

>> Howland also was happy with the injury news out of Thursday night’s game concerning Lorenzo Mata-Real’s left wrist. "He had an X-ray last night after the game which was negative . . . and we had an MRI this morning, which was also negative. So, in terms of his status tomorrow, I don’t know. I don’t know about the soreness issue, that type of thing. I’m just relieved because long term, he should be OK.

"I was really worried about Lorenzo, I can’t even tell you. I didn’t sleep last night very well. I felt terrible because I should have had him out of the game at that point. I was taking the blame. I’m just so thankful — you guys have no idea — how thankful I am for Lorenzo’s sake and for our team’s sake that it’s not going to be a long-term thing. I can’t even express that enough."

Asked why Mata-Real was playing so late in a game that was so one-sided, Howland said, "I wanted to get him more minutes because he had missed the game last week and I thought it would be good [for him to play]."

>> Howland said of Thursday night’s 84-51 win over the Sun Devils, "I thought we did the best job attacking the zone since I’ve been here at UCLA. I thought we played very good defense for the most part and we played unselfishly and shared the ball well."

>> He also had more praise for all-everything freshman center Kevin Love: "A lot of people are playing physical, a lot of people are fronting him, people are double-teaming him . . . some people are zoning us, trying to keep the ball out of his hands. What he’s done and we’ve done more of, is getting him to step out. Last night, he did a great job of catching the ball in the high-post area, turning and facing [the basket]. He doesn’t even have to score to make our offense go, he’s so good at the facilitating aspect. His pass that leads to a penetrating drive, [it’s] his passes that loosen things up. That what’s great about him; he doesn’t even care if he scores."

>> On injured guard Michael Roll, Howland said, "He’s out of his boot now for about a week and he’ll start doing some running next week. It’ll probably be at least a week or two."

Howland also was asked about having ESPN’s "College GameDay" show originating from Pauley Pavilion. "Gameday is a big deal and a lot of people watch that. I think it’s great for our program, I think it’s great for Arizona’s program, it’s great for the Pac-10 to bring some notoriety to the West Coast. ESPN does a great job in its production of college basketball." He was clear, however, that he has no role in the show and isn’t actually involved at all. He added, "I’m not one to let anything interfere with what I view as my job."