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UCLA basketball: Reeves Nelson will start against Arizona

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Reeves Nelson is expected to be in the starting lineup for UCLA against Arizona on Thursday night at the McKale Center, according to a Bruins spokesman, five days after the sophomore forward sprained his left ankle late in a victory over Stanford.

Nelson, UCLA’s leading scorer and rebounder who is averaging 13.9 points and 8.0 rebounds, was limited in practice this week but appeared to be agile during warmups.

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The return of Nelson and freshman center Joshua Smith, who sat out all but six minutes of the Bruins’ last two games because of a head and neck injury, should help UCLA combat Arizona big man Derrick Williams, one of the most dynamic scorers and rebounders in the Pacific 10 Conference.

It also should help the Bruins in the event that post players Anthony Stover and Brendan Lane get into foul trouble.

-- Ben Bolch in Tucson

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Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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