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UCLA basketball: Brendan Lane replaces Joshua Smith in starting lineup

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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Maybe this is Ben Howland’s way of keeping Joshua Smith out of foul trouble.

The UCLA coach is starting Brendan Lane in place of Smith for the first time this season when the Bruins play No. 4 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.

Smith is averaging four fouls and only 16 minutes a game, so perhaps coming off the bench will give him a different mind-set against the Jayhawks. Howland has called Lane his team’s best interior defender, and the Bruins will need plenty of post defense against Kansas’ front line of Marcus and Markieff Morris and Thomas Robinson.

--Ben Bolch, reporting from Lawrence, Kan.

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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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