Will UCLA turn the tide?

It's a good time for a Bruins turnaround

UCLA, last in the Pacific 10 Conference, hosts Washington on Thursday. It's chastened by a big loss to USC.

By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
January 20, 2010

UCLA guard Michael Roll was adamant that there would be no more beatings like the one USC handed the Bruins on Saturday.

"We are definitely going to be a lot better from here on out," Roll said.

And he can guarantee that?

"I cannot," Roll said. "All I can say is it's not going to be like that anymore."

Yet the trick still remains in backing that up, after a 67-46 thrashing by the Trojans. The Bruins play Washington on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.

But the intention is there after the team sat through a replay of the USC game.

"We watched the whole game as a team," Coach Ben Howland said. "It took 2 1/2 hours. We watched it very carefully. The first two times they touched the ball, they got layups."

Said Roll: "It was ugly."

It also left the Bruins last in the Pacific 10 Conference three weeks into the season. UCLA hasn't finished last in conference play since the 1941-42 season. It is 2-3 in Pac-10 play, but with Arizona State leading with a 4-2 record, the Bruins are still within sight of the lead.

"We haven't played a whole lot of games, so as of now it's anyone's conference," forward James Keefe said. "We are not far off and can turn the whole season around." But, as with Roll's guarantee, "how" becomes the question.

"There is not one answer to that," Keefe said. "The first answer, we've got to look into ourselves and figure out what each of us can do to make this team better. When you start losing, you get down on yourself; you get down on the team. We've just got to stay together and stay positive."

Triage

The Bruins' training room got a little busier.

Forward Nikola Dragovic underwent X-rays on his right knee Tuesday.

"It's something in the back of my knee that is making my leg sore," Dragovic said. "I started limping in a game last week and they're trying to figure it out."

Guard Jerime Anderson is suffering from a hip flexor, Roll has a sore abdominal muscle and forward Reeves Nelson has flu. Anderson seems the most worrisome.

"Anderson is day to day, according to the doctor," Howland said. The player's availability for the game against Washington appears iffy, given that he "won't practice [Tuesday] and he won't practice" today, Howland said. Without Anderson, guard Malcolm Lee probably will handle the brunt of the Huskies' pressure defense.