Bruins ready to face Trojans' best effort
By AL BALDERAS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
January 15, 2010 5:35 PM
Howland says USC wants to get the most out of its season when it faces UCLA.
The UCLA and USC basketball teams are only four games deep into their Pac-10 conference schedules, but Saturday's matchup at Pauley Pavilion could carry serious implications for the postseason.
At least for the Bruins.
USC became ineligible for the postseason earlier this month when it imposed sanctions on itself because of NCAA rules violations.
Though the Trojans lost the two games that followed the implementation of those sanctions, UCLA coach Ben Howland doesn't think the setbacks are connected to the penalties. Howland expects the Bruins to face a USC team that will carry a nothing-to-lose attitude for the remainder of the season.
"I'm sure it was very much a disappointment for the players and the coaches to know they're no longer going to be playing past the regular season of the Pac-10," Howland said earlier this week. "Those kids want to get the most out of their season so they're ... believe me, we'll get their best game of the year (Saturday). I know that."
The Bruins and Trojans combined for a 1-3 record in their Northern California swing last weekend. The Trojans lost to Stanford and Cal, while the Bruins' only victory was against Cal in overtime. The Bruins had a chance for the sweep but self-destructed by turning the ball over 23 times on Saturday at Stanford.
"It was very frustrating because we knew they were going to be a tough team but at halftime, with all of the mistakes that we made, we were still in the game," said freshman starter Tyler Honeycutt. "If we had corrected them, we would have easily won that game."
By not beating Stanford, the Bruins dropped to 2-2 in the Pac-10 (same as USC), and need to take advantage of seven home games that remain on their schedule. USC can become the proverbial thorn in the side of the other teams in the conference, beginning with UCLA.
"The bottom line is, for USC, they've got 14 games left in the season, and for (Dwight) Lewis and for (Marcus) Johnson and for (Mike) Gerrity, that's 14 games in your college career," Howland said. "They're going to want to get the most out of it."
The same holds true for UCLA seniors Nikola Dragovic, Michael Roll and James Keefe. They don't have many games left in their collegiate careers and would prefer to add a few more by playing beyond the customary Pac-10 Tournament.
"I'm happy that we're not a part of that," Roll said. "That's tough, playing in a no light at the end of the tunnel type of thing. They love the game of basketball so they're just playing for that.
"We do have a chance and they don't. We're definitely in a much better spot."
Now it's a matter of taking advantage of it.
"I think we're coming in focused on our next task at hand, which is USC," guard Jerime Anderson said. "We know we've got to come in ready to play hard and do everything right. They're a real physical team so we've got to be ready for a real physical game. That's the main focus right now."
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UCLA has margin for error in Pacific 10 race
By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2010 | 5:30 p.m.
Bruins aren't happy to be 7-9, but their 2-2 Pac-10 record has them in a five-way tie for third place in a conference that's either well-balanced or perfectly mediocre, depending on point of view.
UCLA basketball players will be the first to state the obvious.
"We thought we would be doing a lot better than this," freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt said.
A 7-9 record would be considered more nightmare than hoop dream by UCLA players, fans and even the coaching staff. Yet, there is a silver lining.
If the Bruins were going to have a season of growing pains, the timing was right. No team in the Pacific 10 Conference has a resume that screams elite status. A 2-2 conference record heading into today's game against USC has UCLA in the middle of the pack in a conference that seems middle-of-the-pack from top to bottom.
"You look at the first two weeks of conference play, Washington was picked in the top two and they have lost three games," UCLA forward Reeves Nelson said. "We beat California and people were pretty down on us. So it's pretty wide open."
California is 3-1 and sits atop the conference standings. Arizona State is 3-2 and everyone else has two victories. If a Pac-10 team needs time to find itself, this is the year for it.
"I don't know if I would say that, but when you look at the conference right now, it is really clear anybody can beat anybody on any given day," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. "It's just hard to predict who are the bottom two teams and who are the top two teams."
UCLA has shown it could be among either. The Bruins have beaten Cal and Arizona State. But they also have committed 69 turnovers to their opponents' 39 in four conference games, including 23 in a loss to Stanford.
"Obviously, we don't like losing games, but this is definitely a year where we can have a few mishaps and still be in the thick of the race," Nelson said.
"We playing better now than we were earlier in the season," Honeycutt said. "Hopefully we will continue to grow. We want to win the Pac-10 tournament and get to the NCAA."
Learning curve
Honeycutt, who has started the last two games, is still catching up. His development was slowed last summer by a spinal stress fracture. He recovered, then suffered a stress reaction in his right tibia and missed six games.
"There was a lot of stuff that I could have been doing during the off-season, shooting, dribbling, playing like a lot of guys played during the summer," the 6-foot-7 Honeycutt said. "I missed a lot. It started to come around not too long ago. You can have practice and scrimmages, but that's not the same as a game."
Honeycutt, who is averaging 4.5 points and 5.8 rebounds, started the last two games. He had 10 rebounds in an overtime victory over California and eight against Stanford.
That's not to say the learning curve is nearly finished.
"You'd be surprised with the fundamentals that are not habits coming out of high school," Howland said. "Blocking out is one of them. Tyler is a very, very good rebounder. He goes and gets it with two hands. He's quick to the ball. There are also times where he's getting blocked out. He can be an even better rebounder."
Fast breaks
Nikola Dragovic, who shot 27% in his first eight games, is shooting 52% in his last six. . . . UCLA has three players among the conference's top 10 in assists: Jerime Anderson (4.2), Malcolm Lee (3.8) and Michael Roll (3.6). . . . The Bruins average 7,479 fans per home game, ranking them fourth in the conference. Arizona is first (13,240) and USC is last (3,883).
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Alex Stepheson can hurt UCLA again
By Baxter Holmes
The Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2010 | 6:26 p.m.
Ben Howland missed two chances to get him, and after transferring from North Carolina, the USC forward faces UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
Your sweetheart turns you down for somebody 3,000 miles away. Nothing personal. It's them, not you.
But things don't work out -- family issues -- so your crush moves back home, where you're waiting, thinking you've got a chance.
Only your crush turns you down, again, and starts dating your neighbor.
That's why today's UCLA- USC showdown is awkward for Trojans forward Alex Stepheson.
UCLA recruited him "real tough," he says, out of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake High in 2006, but Stepheson chose North Carolina.
Then when he returned to the Southland to be near his ill father after his sophomore season, UCLA jumped on him again, but Stepheson chose USC, just barely.
"I was a day away from being a Bruin," he said.
Stepheson sat out last season after being denied an NCAA transfer waiver. Because both UCLA's and USC's rosters were rebuilt this season, he gives the Trojans an edge because of his skills in the paint.
"It's amazing how massive and strong he is," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said. "He just manhandles people in the post and can throw you around."
The 6-foot-9 junior put on 15 pounds of muscle (he's listed at 235) during the summer and looks as if he was carved by Michelangelo. His nickname: "Big A."
Through 14 games this season (he missed the first two due to injury) Stepheson is averaging 10.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks.
"Explosive" is a word USC Coach Kevin O'Neill uses often, but the coach stresses Stepheson's development.
"He is a young player who is learning the game still," O'Neill said.
For Howland, who went after Stepheson twice, not landing the big man was "disappointing."
"We were really high on him," he said.
At Harvard Westlake's practices, Howland was there. Games too. And if he couldn't make it, his assistants did.
"I'm sure he talked to my mom more than he talked to me," Stepheson said.
Said mom, Diane: "It was a hectic time."
North Carolina's appeal and tradition drew him east.
But in the middle of his sophomore season, his mom called with bad news: "Your dad is in the hospital right now. I want you to come home right now," Stepheson recalled.
He did, and stood bedside over the man who put him in his first basketball league at 3 1/2 years old, who recorded all his high school and college games and gave feedback, who was always there for a game of one-on-one in the backyard.
His dad, Art, was suffering heart problems he said stemmed from a poor lifestyle. "Seeing him there was hard," Stepheson said.
"He's my baby," Art said. "We are real tight. My friends call him my best buddy."
Art told his son he was fine, and Stepheson returned to Chapel Hill. But Stepheson worried about his dad still, and at the end of the season, he decided to transfer back to L.A. to be near him.
"He was having a great time at North Carolina, but his love for his dad took priority," Diane said.
Back in L.A., he watched his ex-teammate Tar Heels win the 2009 championship. Art watched too. Stepheson had no regrets, but Art said "I didn't want him to [transfer] because I thought I would be OK."
(Art is doing better since he stopped smoking, improved his diet and started exercising more.)
The first school that called him after he was granted his release was Art's favorite and one Stepheson liked too: UCLA.
After visiting Arizona State, Stepheson was all set to commit to the Bruins before then-USC Coach Tim Floyd convinced him to take one last visit to the place Stepheson's mother and sister, Erin, attended.
"And Coach Floyd convinces me to be a Trojan, so I became a Trojan," Stepheson said.
Playing time was a factor. The Bruins were stacked and had a lineup that seemed hard to crack, whereas Floyd told Stepheson he could "play a lot of minutes right away," Stepheson said.
Floyd left during the summer amid allegations of scandal, but unlike the three Trojans who went pro and the five recruits who decided to go elsewhere, Stepheson stayed, calling this season a "challenge" he wanted.
He lives about 10 minutes from home now, and he stops by often for a home-cooked meal, to do his laundry, or to "get into my pockets," Art said, laughing.
Art still records all his son's games and they go over them, side-by-side, just like they used to. "It's been very nice having him back," Art said
The highlights on those tapes are often Stepheson's favorite play: a blocked shot that sails into the stands.
"Just go up there and throw it out of bounds. There's nothing like it," he said.
Makes sense. Rejection is kind of his thing.
Just ask UCLA.
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