Howland: 'We play well there'

Uclablogpixhowland_ben250 UCLA Coach Ben Howland (pictured) told reporters on a conference call this afternoon that he had very little to report on the injury front in advance of Thursday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against Mississippi Valley State at Honda Center in Anaheim.

"Luc [Richard Mbah A Moute] had a final today during our practice time," Howland said, "so Luc is now downstairs trying to move around a little bit, doing a little light shooting, so I don’t have a report on him. I assume that if he’s able to do some light shooting, he’s probably not still in the walking boot, but I don’t even know. If he’s able to go, we’ll play him on Thursday.

"Kevin [Love] practiced today and seemed to be in pretty good spirits. He might have been a little sore, but he was able to practice. They’re still doing some ice for [his back], stretching and that type of thing."

Howland also noted that after not practicing on Sunday and Monday, preparations have started for the NCAA Tournament. "We did a lot of mental stuff to prepare for Mississippi Valley State; from a defensive standpoint, we did a lot of things," he said.

"They’re primarily a man-to-man defensive team; offensively, they’ll push it, but if it’s not there, they’ll be very patient. They’ve got a good big kid inside in [Larry] Cox: He can shoot the ball around the basket; he’s 6-10, he’s long, he’s athletic. They’ve got older guys — juniors and seniors for the most part — who play major minutes. They have good guard play; they have a kid named [Carl] Lucas who’s very good; a kid named [Stanford] Speech who’s a good player. They have two little point guards, one’s 5-10 [Dwayne Harmison] and one’s 5-8 [Mike Davis]; they can both handle it. They actually have a lot of guys who can score. They can go small when they don’t have [Cox] in, and Eric Petty will move to their 5 [center]. I like the kid [Michael] Clark; he’s a good player."

On the schedule for the days ahead, Howland said: "We’ll leave tomorrow after our practice here in time for all of the media obligations of playing in the NCAA Tournament and our required, at least 30 minutes on-the-floor shoot-around." The latter obligation is not something Howland is much interested in, noting that "everybody is scouting each other so you’re not really going to have a real practice where you’re going to work on the strategic stuff. It’s only an hour long, so you really can’t have a real practice."

Of Honda Center — where UCLA usually plays one game a year in the Wooden Classic — Howland said, "It’s fine; we play well there."

Howland also had praise for forward James Keefe, who had a career high against Stanford in the Pac-10 Tournament final with eight points: "He really defended well ... [and] rebounded well. Against Stanford, he had eight points, so he finished well around the basket, changed some shots. He was quick to the ball, did a lot of good things, but, especially on the defensive end, he was very, very aggressive."