Joshua Smith running afoul early on

Joshua Smith absolutely giddy after completing power move. Photo from The Daily Bruin.

Joshua Smith running afoul early on
November, 16, 2010 6:15PM PT
By Peter Yoon
UCLA Report, EPSNLA


UCLA freshman center Joshua Smith has lived up to the billing that made him a highly-touted prospect last season by showing the ability to dominate when he is on the floor, but he’s not yet shown the ability to stay on the floor.

Smith is a 6-foot-10, 305-pound force in the paint, but he’s picked up early fouls in each of UCLA’s first two games and has spent more time on the bench than he would like.

He hasn’t yet fouled out—a result of judicious coaching decisions about when to use him--but Smith has eight fouls in two games and has averaged only 17.5 minutes per game.

“I’ve had eight fouls in my first two games and I feel like four of them were actually me fouling the person,” Smith said. “I asked the ref that one time, and he said ‘yeah, my bad.’ There’s nothing really to say to that when a ref says ‘my bad’ on a foul.”

Despite his limited time, Smith has averaged 11 points and six rebounds. He’s made seven of 10 of his field goal attempts and took over for a spurt against Pepperdine, when he scored 11 points in a four-minute stretch.

But in order to see more performances like that, Smith, two games in to his college career, acknowledged he need to learn how referees call big men at the college level.

“I’ve just got to watch what I’m doing, show my hands more,” he said. “They call it a lot different. They penalize big guys a lot.”