Love: 'There is so much at stake Thursday'

UCLA freshman center Kevin Love is looking forward to Thursday:

"Playing Stanford here Thursday — the 17th-ranked team — is going to be a very tough game for us. Hopefully the atmosphere will be electric and that we will sell the game out. Having the crowd on our side will hopefully help us come out with a win. We will go hard in practice today and tomorrow and get ready for them."

Love said the team's goals are clear: "We can't have any letdown now; we have to come out all pumped up. We will be really ready and good to go. The key is to win the Pac-10 and put ourselves into position to get a No. 1 seed [in the NCAA Tournament]. Hopefully we will have a chance to do that on Thursday and then we will see what happens in the Pac-10 Tournament. There is so much at stake Thursday. I don't care about my stats; I can score 0 points and get 0 rebounds and if we win, I'll be happy."

Asked about playing against the Lopez twins again, he said: "Thursday will be a very, very tough game against the Lopez twins and Stanford. They are very well coached and it will be one helluva game. It's tough because they are very big. You pump-fake one and go around him and the next one is waiting for you. They are very tough to rebound against. I am looking forward to playing against them on Thursday.

"The atmosphere will be great; it has been that way ever since I have been here. It has almost been a blur it has gone by so fast. The Den will be in full force on Thursday. The intensity seems to be much higher now than it is March. There were two overtime games on Saturday, I think. Last-second victories, last-second shots signify that March is really here."

Love said he had a specific strategy against the Lopezes in the first game between the schools in January. "Last time I tried to give pump fakes and get physical with them. A couple times I got offensive rebounds and went right back up. If we can get them in foul trouble again, it will really help us out.

"They have great timing and have been tall their whole lives. They must be ranked pretty high in the country in blocked shots. Lorenzo [Mata-Real] is going to have to play big minutes on Thursday. Hopefully I will stay out of foul trouble but when I need my rest Lorenzo will be in there."

Love is even getting his diet in order for Thursday: "I have no concern about having low energy like I did against Oregon at Pauley. I am going to eat my carbs and get my spaghetti. I'll be ready to go on Thursday. No Subway before the game."