Love: 'We’re not going to take them lightly'

Bruin All-American Kevin Love said he’s ready for the NCAA West Regional, adding that perhaps the Bruins are a team of destiny.

"Two games in, I’m seasoned, I’m ready to go," he said of the NCAA Tournament yesterday with reporters before the Bruins got on the plane to go to Phoenix for tomorrow’s game against Western Kentucky.

Asked if the Bruins were destined to win, he said, "There was a point in the season, I think it was the [second] Stanford game, where Russell [Westbrook]’s free throw hit the back of the rim, bounced in the air a couple of times and I was like, ‘Russ, this is destiny right here. You’re going to knock this next one down and we’re going to win the game’ and it ended up happening. That was kind of a surreal moment for me, but in some ways I kind of do and I absolutely hope so. But we’ll see what happens." Highlights:

>> Against Texas A&M, Love said the team took the challenge of overcoming a halftime deficit personally. "We just felt that sense of urgency. I just came out feeling that if we don’t step it up, if I don’t get some rebounds and some of these blocked shots, that we’re going to lose this game. For me, individually, I just felt like I had to step up."

>> On his two fadeaway jump shots near the end, he said: "Coach [Ben] Howland doesn’t like me to fadeaway on my jump shots. I used to shoot that shot in high school all the time with my trainer back home. I used to work on my shot thousands of times over the course of the year and those are the ones I went to at the end of the game and it felt good. Basketball is a game of inches, so having a bigger defender on me whether it was DeAndre Jordan or [Joseph] Jones out there, I felt like that was a good shot and I had the momentum going backwards that I thought it was a good shot when I released it with my fingers.

"I caught the ball, I looked middle; I knew that help was going to come. I kind of spun baseline and I knew if I were to spin around they would still be there so I just felt the fallaway was a shot I should take. He mentioned it after the game; he came in screaming and yelling, saying those were big shots, but I’ll just take what the defense gives me and if that’s what they give me, maybe I’ll go to that shot again.

"I was pretty comfortable down the stretch. Whatever shot it would have been, I would have taken it, but at the time that felt right."

>> About the final play, he said: "Down at the end of the game like that, you never know. We still came back, we still had to hit our shots, either way, even if it had been a foul, they would have had to hit their free throws, that’s just the way I feel. They keep saying it’s a conspiracy and everybody hates UCLA now, but we’re not feeding into that too much. We’re just going to go out and play our game. Hopefully, it doesn’t come down to that again.

"I was telling you guys after the game that, from my perspective, I thought it was him [Donald Sloan] taking it back and the momentum took him that way. I was jumping for the shot and so many things were going on that I couldn’t see it, I thought it was a clean block. When I saw the photo and I saw the hand on the wrist, you know that’s tough to say, but it was the ref’s call and luckily, the NCAA can’t look back on that.

"A&M played a great game and we didn’t play so great on the offensive end. Darren [Collison] played great, he was five for eight from the three-point line and ended up with 21 points. He needed to step up our stuff; we can’t decide when we want to play defense. We have to play defense for 40 minutes out of the game. All credit to the Aggies, they’re well coached and very physical."

>> About Western Kentucky, Love said: "We’re not going to take them lightly. Everybody says we have a great road to the Final Four, having them be a 12th seed, but they’re a great team; they can play. I wouldn’t say that anybody has lost their confidence, but we just need to start knocking down perimeter shots. So then that opens up everything for me, opens up everything for Darren, I think Russell will get going, I think Luc [Richard Mbah A Moute] will get going and everybody just needs to stay consistent right now, whether it’s getting on the glass, playing defense and the offense will come.

"They trap, they have full-court press, but I think -– playing the percentages -– we’re very good in the open court, very good in transition, so hopefully that will pay dividends for us. I hope I can throw my outlet a couple of times for easy buckets. If they happen to slow it down and we get into the half-court offense, that will benefit me as well.

"They have a freshman [D.J. Magley] that’s 6-9 or 6-10, he’s about 260, so he’s around my weight and they have another guy [Jeremy Evans] who’s 6-9 and about 190, so they give you a big guy inside and they give you another long guy inside, but hopefully we’ll have the advantage. I think they’ll do a fine job against me, but hopefully I’ll be coming out on my A-game."

>> What about Josh Shipp and his shooting slump? "I actually had Easter dinner with him in the place where he stays at, so I got to talk to him. He’s fine, he’s all smiles, he was laughing and having a good time. We’re happy we got the ‘W’; he knows what he needs to do, but I don’t think he should feel any extra pressure because at this point, at this stage, everybody needs to step up. And he’s been here before; he’s been here twice.

>> Asked about his increased shot-blocking, he credited it to "just being a defensive presence in there. They’re taking it to me like I can’t block shots and I’ve known my whole life that I can. I’m a big body in there and if I can get my hands on balls, I can hopefully add to the transition game and stuff like that. That was just something that came within me and I had to be a beast. We don’t want to rely on that; we need to step up and take some charges, box out, get a hand up for the shot, just change and alter shots as much as possible to make it tough on the other team."

>> He also allayed any concerns about his back pains suffered during the Pac-10 Tournament: "The back feels good. I got a little bit of extra treatment yesterday on my legs, on my hamstrings, got a massage, I am feeling good and ready to go."

Comments

[AW]

OK, Bruins got their worst game out of the way (Westbrook, Shipp, Luc Richard) I don't think the 3 r going to have a worse shooting game. Otherwise we go home.

As far as Love, I think the rest of the country is going to be really shocked at how good this guy really is. I'm expecting some monster games out of him and some awesome outlet passes.

I hope we get Texas again, Collison was only 70% in the 1st game. Collison is also going to show how great of a pt. guard he really is. Since the Bruin games rarely get shown on ESPN, the rest of the nation is going to be in for a shock as to how good these guys are.

Go Bruins

AW