Guerrero: UCLA to evaluate Howland after season

UCLA coach Ben Howland was a target in a Sports Illustrated story published Wednesday in which players and staff members from recent UCLA basketball teams said Howland failed to control an influx of talented-but-disruptive players. CHRIS O'MEARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

Guerrero: UCLA to evaluate Howland after season

 

 

BY SCOTT M. REID / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Published: Feb. 29, 2012 Updated: 6:45 p.m.

 

LOS ANGELES – While UCLA chancellor Gene Block said on Wednesday he is confident in the direction of the university's sports program under Dan Guerrero, the Bruin athletic director would not commit to UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland beyond the current season.


Guerrero said a review of Howland's job status and the direction of the basketball program will take place after the season. Guerrero acknowledged a need for culture change within the UCLA basketball program.

 

"Yeah, there's no is no question about that," Guerrero said during a teleconference with reporters that also included Block.

The teleconference and one by Howland later Wednesday were in response to a Sports Illustrated report published Wednesday in which players and staff members from recent UCLA basketball teams said Howland's failure to control an influx of talented-but-disruptive players undermined discipline and morale within the program.
Howland guided UCLA to three consecutive Final Fours between 2006 and 2008. But the Bruins haven't been past the second round of the NCAA tournament since then and, after being picked to win the Pac-12 this season, are facing the likelihood of missing the NCAA tournament for the second time in three seasons. UCLA's underachieving season, critics charge, is in large part the result of a lack of discipline in the program under Howland.


UCLA point guard Jerime Anderson was arrested over the summer for stealing a computer on campus. Sports Illustrated season preview issue cover boy Reeves Nelson remained on the squad despite a series of rules violations and incidents of disruptive behavior, including a heated verbal confrontation with Howland after showing up late for a team meeting in November. Nelson was finally dismissed from the team in December after laughing and joking through the second half of a home loss to Texas. Sophomore center Joshua Smith has been a major disappointment having struggled to regain the form and fitness level he displayed as a freshman when he was described by Pac-12 rival coaches as the conference's top NBA prospect.


"At this point in time, we're assessing all the issues that have come into play," Guerrero said. "Ben's got to coach his team this week, and obviously in the post-season, and we'll address this entire matter at the end of the year."


Howland's contract runs through 2017-18 season and pays him an annual base salary of $300,000. He also receives an annual talent fee $1.8 million for this season. The talent fee increases to $1.9 million next season and then $2 million for the remainder of the contract. The contract also has the potential for $185,000 in annual performance bonuses.


Under the terms of the contract, Howland's buyout includes the base salary for the remaining years of the contract the remainder of the talent fee for that season and one additional year in talent fee.


The Howland controversy is the latest in a series of recent blows to a Bruins athletic program that has had a mixed record in 10 years under Guerrero, a former UCLA second baseman.


Although UCLA has won 21 NCAA titles in Olympic sports during Guerrero's reign, the Bruin football program has not played in a BCS bowl game during his tenure and has a 41-45 record in conference play.


Guerrero was forced to fire his first two football head coach hires, Karl Dorrell, after five seasons, and Rick Neuheisel, after four. Dorrell and Neuheisel, both former Bruin players, were a combined 56-56 at their alma mater. Guerrero passed up Mike Riley to hire Dorrell. Riley, with fewer resources and a signifincantly smaller talent base, went on two twice lead Oregon State to within a game of the Rose Bowl.


At least eight Bruin football players have been suspended for failing university drug tests during the past two seasons. Under UCLA's drug policy athletes cannot be suspended until a third positive test.


Guerrero has also been criticized for failing to retain Bruin women's basketball coach Nikki Caldwell, a rising star in the sport, who was hired away from Westwood by LSU last spring. The UCLA women are currently 14-13 this season.


Block, however, twice said he has confidence in Guerrero's leadership.


"I have an athletic director I have faith in," Block said. "He's aware of the issues, and as you've heard, he's dealing with them. With Dan's leadership and my advice, I think we're going to be able to get back on track. He has all the right Bruin values."


Whether Block and Guerrero has similar faith in Howland will not be clear until after the Pac-12 tournament next week.


"There's no question the story paints a picture of one of our premier programs that causes a great deal of concern," Block said. "I have questions, just like you do."


Said Guerrero, "Obviously, I've been with Ben for nine years. Obviously, this is a stain on that too some degree. Now we have to pull ourselves together."


It's been a long season for the Bruins on and off the court. UCLA (16-13 overall, 9-7 Pac-12) needs to win four games in as many days to secure the Pac-12 tournament and the conference's automatic NCAA tournament berth, the Bruins' only remaining way into March Madness after an underachieving and dysfunctional season.


"I am very confident of my abilities to lead this program in the future and feel very, very good about our recruiting class and also the kids we're involved with (in recruiting) right now," Howland said.


While acknowledging "this is not a great day for our program," Howland insisted he was "surprised by some of the assertions that I had no knowledge of or were simply untrue or were taken out of context. I'm responsible for this program and everything that happens in it. If there's any need to make changes, I'll make them. I'm proud of our current and former players and our coaches and I'm confident of where we're going."


And Wednesday, Guerrero, when asked repeatedly, would not commit to the program moving forward with Howland.


"We just read the article today," Guerrero said. "There are some issues evident in there that have to be discussed. We're talking less than 12 hours from the release of that article. We still have to do some due diligence in that regard. I don't want to go out in front of anything in that regard."

UCLA's Howland deserves one more chance to recover reins

UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero would not commit to Ben Howland returning next season.


UCLA's Howland deserves one more chance to recover reins


By MARK WHICKER
COLUMNIST
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

mwhicker@ocregister.com

Published: Feb. 29, 2012 Updated: 6:23 p.m.

It's what John Madden said.

Discipline is not screaming, yelling, chair-throwing. Discipline is not pressed slacks and cuff links.

"Discipline is knowing what you're supposed to do and doing it as best you can," Madden wrote in "Hey, Wait A Minute!"

"On third down and short yardage, the Raiders don't jump offside. That's discipline – not a coat and tie, not a clean shave."

What Sports Illustrated's critique of UCLA basketball tells us is that Ben Howland lost his discipline.

His center, Joshua Smith, is too fat to play basketball, yet he is allowed to stay fat and play basketball.

His former power forward, Reeves Nelson, was a menace and a miscreant who embarrassed his university, and yet Howland let Nelson injure teammates and mock John Wooden's legacy before he finally fired him.

It is a methodical account of UCLA basketball that, to some extent, could have been written about any of 320 programs

It did not accuse UCLA of recruiting violations or academic fraud.

College basketball players use drugs and drink. Not unanimously, but universally.


Players develop jealousies, get unhappy about their roles and sometimes attack each other. That is not uncommon either.

And coaches make recruiting mistakes, as Howland has admitted on multiple occasions.

But when coaches fail to practice what they preach, they lose teams. Howland is fairly close to entering land of the Different Direction, and, and losing his program.

Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, on Wednesday, repeatedly stopped short of saying Howland would coach the Bruins in 2012-13, when four of the top six scorers return, to be joined by transfer Larry Drew II and touted freshmen Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams.

Howland proved himself by visiting Final Fours in his third, fourth and fifth years. But UCLA is on track to miss the NCAA tournament field for the second time in three years, and that field is bigger and more inviting than it ever has been. Steve Lavin got the Bruins into the big tent every year except for his final one.

Howland has had "a lot of pluses as well as a lot of issues," Guerrero said. "There have been mistakes in evaluating character and talent."

What Sports Illustrated noted, and what has been obvious, is that Howland went for quick fixes when Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Luc Mbah a Moute, Jrue Holiday and Darren Collison left within a two-year span.

The trouble began with the recruiting class that included Nelson, the departed Drew Gordon and J'Mison Morgan, and point guard Jerime Anderson, who is still there.

People on the scene said the freshmen didn't respect the Bruins veterans, like Collison and Michael Roll. They wanted immediate minutes. The tattoo-littered Nelson, with his sunken-eyed stare, was lionized for his "toughness," by we in the local media and also by SI, which put Nelson on its cover.

We're not allowed inside Howland's practices, in order to keep us from hearing Howland's rants, or seeing Nelson take head shots at Matt Carlino, who had suffered a concussion and was then known to Nelson as "Concussion Boy."

But not until Nelson was laughing on UCLA's bench, during a loss to Texas, did Howland cut his cord.

Even when Nelson blew a flight to Maui – how is anybody ever late for a flight to Maui? – Howland drew a faint line in the sand by benching him for the first half against Chaminade. Then, when it appeared UCLA would lose to the Division II club, Howland put Nelson in, and the Bruins won.

It followed that UCLA played softer basketball. The Final Four teams would rise in the final two minutes to handle any situation. What the '06 team did to Gonzaga, in the West regional semifinal, was incredible. "Somebody tell me how we won that one," assistant coach Donny Daniels said, laughing.

Now, nobody has to tell the Bruins how they lost. They don't guard, they buckle on the road, and their big man obviously thinks a StairMaster has a third rail.

Howland acknowledged mistakes Wednesday but cited his own "body of work," which must have amused Lavin to no end. The body of work decomposes every year at UCLA, as Gene Bartow and Larry Brown and even John Wooden all knew.

But now that UCLA has tried to cleanse itself, Howland should be allowed one more shot.

The old song-and-dance about Howland's cumbersome style of play gets exposed by the number of essential NBA players he has produced, including three point guards on playoff-bound teams. Michigan State plays Studebaker basketball and nobody complains there.

Howland will greet a gleaming Pauley Pavilion re-do, and he will take aim at the same dingy Pac-12 Conference.

How will we know that the old has become new? We will know next November, by the way the jersey hangs – or pops – on Joshua Smith.

NCAA warns schools to be wary over top recruit Muhammad's eligibility

NCAA warns schools to be wary over top recruit Muhammad's eligibility

By Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish

CBSSports.com College Basketball Insiders

Wednesday February 29, 2012 - 7:08 PM

The NCAA has contacted each school recruiting the nation's top-ranked high school basketball prospect, Shabazz Muhammad, and made them aware of financial dealings that could compromise Muhammad's amateur status, multiple sources have told CBSSports.com.

The sources told CBSSports.com that the NCAA is specifically interested in connections between Muhammad's family and financial advisers Benjamin Lincoln and Ken Kavanagh. Lincoln is a North Carolina-based financial planner whose brother, Geoff Lincoln, is an assistant coach for Muhammad's high school team in Las Vegas. Kavanagh is a New York-based financial planner.

Muhammad's father, Ron Holmes, acknowledged to CBSSports.com in multiple phone calls this week that he knows both men and has been questioned by an NCAA investigator about the relationships. Sources told CBSSports.com Lincoln paid for at least two of Muhammad's unofficial visits to college campuses and that Kavanagh has helped fund Muhammad's summer team, the Las Vegas-based Dream Vision Foundation. Holmes, who has hired legal counsel to assist with getting the NCAA inquiry resolved, confirmed both statements as true to CBSSports.com.   

Holmes said he has been in the real estate business since 1986 and met Benjamin Lincoln in 2007 through Muhammad's high school coach at Las Vegas' Bishop Gorman, Grant Rice.

"We hit it off immediately and became very close friends," Holmes told CBSSports.com in an exclusive interview. "When Benjamin and I met in 2007, my son Shabazz was in the seventh grade. Back in 2007, none of us knew that Shabazz would be able to play college ball, let alone be as good as he is now. In fact, I don't remember any colleges contacting us until Shabazz was in the ninth or 10th grade.

"By 2010, Shabazz was getting a lot of interest from high major colleges, including North Carolina and Duke," he said. "We had an opportunity to take unofficial visits to both schools in North Carolina. Benjamin offered to pay for our plane tickets and hotel room. When we went on the visits, we filled out the NCAA compliance forms and fully disclosed that our family friend, Benjamin Lincoln, had paid for the trips.

"When we were approached by the NCAA, we cooperated naturally," he continued.

"We had told the truth from the beginning and had disclosed everything. It is frustrating that we have been honest and above board from the start and now there are those who are questioning what we did. ... I don't think we've done anything wrong."

Reached by phone, Lincoln told CBSSports.com that he did indeed fund at least two of Muhammad's unofficial visits but insisted he believes his involvement is within NCAA rules.

"I consider Ronald Holmes and Faye Muhammad as two of my dearest friends," Benjamin Lincoln told CBSSports.com. "I have had a close relationship for almost five years. For 10 years, they have lived in Las Vegas, the same city as my brother, so we were able to see each other often. As Shabazz began the process of looking at colleges, I offered to help Ronald and the family take unofficial visits to two colleges. I simply was trying to help the family I care so much about. It is important that this be resolved quickly and not negatively affect Shabazz in any way."

Kavanagh attended many of Muhammad's high school events this season and acknowledged to CBSSports.com this week by phone that he'd like to someday represent Muhammad, who is projected as a future lottery pick of the NBA Draft. Still, Kavanagh said he believes he has violated no rules by donating money to Muhammad's summer program because he has known Dream Vision coach Clay Williams, who is Muhammad's godfather and Holmes' close friend, for more than two decades. Kavanagh thinks he has a preexisting relationship with the family that allows him to operate in this manner and within NCAA guidelines.

Kavanagh, originally from the San Diego area, said he used to play basketball against Williams and Holmes at the La Jolla YMCA.

"I first became involved with Dream Vision this past summer," Kavanagh said.

And why has he traveled with Muhammad's high school team?

"Every chance I can I'll watch Shabazz play," Kavanagh answered. "I never thought it would lead to so much attention because I've known Clay so long."

Sources told CBSSports.com the NCAA is skeptical that these relationships -- and the financial assistance they've provided Muhammad's summer team and family -- are legitimately unrelated to Muhammad's athletic ability, which could in turn compromise Muhammad's amateur status. That's among the reasons the NCAA contacted schools still pursuing Muhammad and essentially informed them that though they are free to continue recruiting the 6-foot-5 wing, they should understand that there are potential amateurism issues.

Another interesting twist to Muhammad's recruitment is the perceived role of Adidas.

Industry sources have claimed for more than a year that Muhammad would almost certainly land at UCLA because Adidas is heavily invested in Muhammad through its sponsorship of Dream Vision, and because the Bruins are one of the shoe company's flagship programs. Some have even suggested Holmes is on payroll with Adidas, but he emphatically denied that to CBSSports.com. But Holmes did acknowledge that his daughter, Asia Muhammad, has a contract with Adidas. She's a professional tennis player ranked 386th in the world.

"Now you can quote me on this," Holmes said. "What I have to say is that [Adidas] has never once come at me about 'Bazz going to an Adidas school. They'll say if he goes to an Adidas school like UCLA or Kansas that means they'll get to see him more because [they] go and watch those games. But they've never come at me like that. Adidas has never done anything they weren't supposed to do."

Muhammad is still considering six schools: UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky, UNLV, Duke and USC.

"We do not think we've done anything wrong," Holmes said. "But if we have, we'll deal with it."

UCLA Statements Regarding SI Article on Men's Basketball Program

UCLA Statements Regarding SI Article on Men's Basketball Program

Feb. 29, 2012
UCLA Newsroom

Los Angeles, Calif. - In media teleconferences this afternoon, Chancellor Gene Block, UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero and UCLA head coach Ben Howland responded to a recent Sports Illustrated article that made a number of assertions about the UCLA men's basketball program. All three are committed to reviewing all relevant university policies and procedures to make certain they are followed and are in line with the university's strong values.

They also stressed the value of mutual respect, emphasizing the importance of players adhering to the university's code of conduct and having respect for the way in which they represent UCLA, as well the importance of the program respecting players as both students and athletes.

Chancellor Gene Block's statement to the news media:
Every day, those of us fortunate enough to be associated with this great university take enormous pride in what UCLA represents.

So it is particularly disheartening to me and to our Bruin community to be confronted with the type of assertions contained in the Sports Illustrated article about our men's basketball program.

We all know the special place that UCLA basketball holds on this campus and beyond, so any injury to the program is an injury to all of us. Because of this rich legacy, we hold ourselves to a higher standard.

John Wooden taught us that it's not only important to take pride in our achievements but to take pride in how we live our lives.

There's no question the story paints a picture of one of our premier programs that causes a great deal of concern. I have questions, just like you do.

After conferring with Dan Guerrero, we have agreed to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the university's policies, procedures and values are aligned with our continued pursuit of excellence.

We expect all of our student-athletes to abide by the university's code of conduct at all times and to represent us proudly; at the same time, our players must be respected and provided an environment that makes their college experience a rich and rewarding one.
Every day, so many of our student-athletes make us proud ... through their community involvement, campus leadership, academic achievement and competition on the court and on the field.

Many of Ben Howland's players are among them.

While it wasn't fun reading the criticisms leveled against us this morning, I know we will be better as a result of them. I have confidence that Dan will be able move us forward in men's basketball and to continue to lead our outstanding Department of Athletics.

Statement from Dan Guerrero, UCLA's director of athletics:
When I became the Director of Athletics at my alma mater almost ten years ago, I was entrusted with the leadership of what I believe is the nation's premier athletic program. Our mission is clear: provide a comprehensive student-athlete experience for 24 sports that builds character, enhances our community and provides opportunities for athletic and academic excellence. I am reminded of that mission daily when I watch our more than 700 student-athletes strive to be the best that they can be; when I walk by our Academic Center and watch our collaborative learning team at work; or when I see the enthusiasm on the faces of our new football staff as they work late into the night.


Yet I am also reminded of this core mission today, at a time when we may have fallen short of this mission. I am disappointed to the extent that there may be merit in the Sports Illustrated story and that we could have done more for our student-athletes and coaches. I am angry that the alleged actions of a select few could cast doubts on all that is great about UCLA Athletics. Yet I am determined to move forward and to do everything in my power to ensure that our student-athletes and coaches live up to the values that we believe in and espouse.

Coach Howland came to UCLA and quickly brought the program back to the nation's elite, leading the team to three Final Fours with a tremendous group of young men. But he is not perfect. He has admitted both publicly and privately some of his shortcomings and mistakes. To be sure, we want to win more championships and do it the right way, which means there are expectations for Ben both on and off of the court. At UCLA, like at our peer institutions, we place a high degree of trust on our head coaches and they, in turn, place a high degree of trust in their student-athletes. But even with that trust, it is clear that we don't always meet the standards of expectation.
Federal privacy laws prevent any UCLA official from addressing any specific charges concerning former or current student-athletes and I am, therefore, unable to provide specific context around a number of the alleged incidents in the article.

That said, as it relates to alleged drug use or alcohol consumption by former or current members of the men's basketball team, let me state that UCLA has programs in place that address alcohol abuse and a stringent drug-testing program, administered and supervised by a panel of experts, including campus administrators, doctors and lawyers. The university administration and department leadership take any reports of alleged drug use by our students seriously and we will continue to provide the necessary resources and support for members of our community.

Let me be clear: If, in any instance, I, as the leader of this department, or any member of our staff did not follow protocol or do our very best to do what is in the best interest of our student-athletes, then we have not lived up to our core mission. Should that be the case, I will take responsibility for that, and I can assure you that this will be remedied.

Coaching and playing basketball or any other sport at UCLA is a privilege and an honor and we have always sought to achieve excellence in character, education, community and yes, competition. Every coach and player who has ever been a part of UCLA knows that character and values are as important as winning.

I have been a Bruin for more than forty years. I know the expectations of academic and athletic success are lofty -- and they should be. Yet I also know that high character is not an expectation -- it is a requirement for every Bruin, for that is what makes UCLA so great.

Statement from Ben Howland, UCLA Men's Basketball head coach:
Obviously this is not a great day for our program and of course for me. As I said yesterday, I knew some of the details of the Sports Illustrated story but did not read the entire text until late last night. As you can imagine, I was surprised at some of the assertions that I had no knowledge of and some that were simply untrue or taken out of context. I'm responsible for this program and everything that happens in it. And if there's any need to make changes, I will make them. I'm proud of our current and former players and our coaches, and I'm confident in where we're going as we head forward.

---

Below are the UCLA administration and athletics leadership's initial responses to the Sports Illustrated story published today concerning the UCLA men's basketball program.

From Chancellor Gene Block:
"It is disheartening for our Bruin community to be confronted with the type of assertions contained in the Sports Illustrated story. We take seriously any challenge to who we are and what we are about, and I am confident that any issues in our men's basketball program will be rectified."

From Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero:
"I have discussed the Sports Illustrated story with Coach Howland and Chancellor Block and we will continue to address any issues and concerns. Like many in the Bruin family, I am disappointed. That said, I know that we have, and will continue to provide, the necessary resources, education and support for all of our coaches, staff and student-athletes."

From Head Men's Basketball Coach Ben Howland:
"Like everyone else, I am always looking forward to improving as both a person and as a coach. I am proud of the coaches, staff and student-athletes in our program, and I look forward to our future."

More on SI article on UCLA Basketball

Report: Ben Howland lost control

By Peter Yoon
ESPNLosAngeles.com

Updated: February 29, 2012, 1:34 PM ET

LOS ANGELES -- The recent downturn in UCLA basketball can be blamed on coach Ben Howland losing control of his program when a group of prima donna players began to rebel without consequence, according to a Sports Illustrated story.

The article, first published on the SI.com iPad application late Tuesday night and appearing on the magazine's website Wednesday morning, paints Howland as a hands-off coach who prefers his players to police themselves, but could not maintain discipline when high-profile recruits expected and often received star treatment.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Danny MoloshokA Sports Illustrated story alleges UCLA coach Ben Howland, seen in 2010, failed to discipline Reeves Nelson for abusive behavior and intentionally causing injuries to teammates in practice.

The magazine said it spoke with more than 12 players and staff members from UCLA's past four teams for the report. It cited numerous anonymous former players and other sources associated with the program alleging widespread fighting amongst teammates, players intentionally injuring others during practice, drinking and smoking marijuana before practices and using Ecstasy at off-campus parties.

Many of those deeds went unpunished, according to the report, which alleges Howland "allowed an influx of talented but immature recruits to undermine team discipline and morale."

"Guys drinking, guys doing drugs, guys not taking practice seriously, guys fighting ... You won't find that on the Pyramid of Success," one player said, according to the report, referencing the philosophy embraced by late UCLA coaching great John Wooden.

UCLA's problems began after the last of its three consecutive Final Four runs in 2008, according to the article.

The 2008-09 recruiting class of Drew Gordon, J'mison Morgan, Jrue Holiday, Malcolm Lee, and Jerime Anderson was among the highest-rated classes of all time, but many of those players did not grasp the commitment required to succeed in big-time college basketball, according to the story.

Gordon, Morgan and Anderson partied before practice, according to the story, and their sloppy play impacted the quality of practices. Three members of the team allegedly went to a New Year's Eve rave and took Ecstasy, the magazine reported.

All the while they "chafed at being treated as anything but the stars they were coming out of high school," according to the story.

The next season's incoming recruiting class included Reeves Nelson, who wasted little time in trying to establish himself as resident bully, according to the story. He regularly got into fights and intentionally fouled players with the intent to injure.

Nelson and fellow freshman Anthony Stover "partnered with Gordon, Anderson and Morgan to form a crew that would further erode team discipline and unity," according to the report.

Asked why he didn't discipline Nelson, Howland told Sports Illustrated: "I firmly believe in the philosophy of giving all of my players the chance to do things the right way. There have been challenges with some student-athletes during my tenure here at UCLA, and we have utilized plenty of resources to help them, the specifics of which very few people would know anything about."

Nelson, the only former player to speak on the record, acknowledged his part in several violent incidents during practices, including fights and fouls responsible for injuries that kept James Keefe, Alex Schrempf and Tyler Trapani out of action.

"On all that stuff, I have no trouble admitting that I lost control of my emotions sometimes," Nelson said.
UCLA put out a series of statements responding to the story.

"I have discussed the Sports Illustrated story with Coach Howland and Chancellor (Gene) Block and we will continue to address any issues and concerns," Bruins athletic director Dan Guerrero said. "Like many in the Bruin family, I am disappointed. That said, I know that we have, and will continue to provide, the necessary resources, education and support for all of our coaches, staff and student-athletes."

Howland's statement said: "Like everyone else, I am always looking forward to improving as both a person and as a coach. I am proud of the coaches, staff and student-athletes in our program, and I look forward to our future."

Block, Guerrero and Howland were scheduled to conduct teleconference calls with the media later Wednesday afternoon.

A couple of former UCLA players also weighed in.

"I knew that there were a few bad eggs in the program, but that happens at every program," Minnesota Timberwolves forward and former UCLA standout Kevin Love told ESPNLosAngeles.com. Love played one season at UCLA, in 2007-08.

Love's Timberwolves teammate Malcolm Lee, who also played at UCLA, said he hadn't seen the report and wasn't aware of the allegations.

"I really don't know what the consequences are. I guess that'd be up to the school or the NCAA. Hopefully everything will be resolved," Lee told ESPNLosAngeles.com. "I'm sure every school has problems. It's how you deal with it."

Star players were rarely punished for disruptions and other players began to rebel, according to the story. One upperclassman, upset over his lack of playing time, told Sports Illustrated that he stopped wearing his game jersey under his warm-ups so Howland couldn't put him in during garbage time.

Howland dismissed Gordon from the team in December 2009. It was Gordon's second-guessing of Howland's coaching, not his partying, that got him singled out, source said, according to the story.

"The message some players took from Gordon's departure was this: At UCLA you could fight, you could drink alcohol and do drugs to the point it affected your performance, but the one thing you could not do was question Howland's knowledge of the game," the story reads.

Prior to the 2010-11 season, Howland announced that he had dismissed Morgan from the team for undisclosed reasons.

Nelson, who allegedly urinated on Tyler Honeycutt's clothes when he suspected Honeycutt had ratted out a plan to rent a party bus on New Year's Eve, continued to be a problem. He regularly verbally abused assistant coaches and staff members and on one ocasion, kicked balls into the stands after practice and told the team's managers to "fetch," according to the report.

"After each of the incidents, Howland looked the other way. One team member says he asked Howland after a practice why he wasn't punishing Nelson, to which he said Howland responded, 'He's producing,' " the Sports Illustrated story reads.

Nelson was finally dismissed from the team seven games into this season. Anderson, after a brush with the law when he was arrested for stealing a laptop computer last summer, has seemingly grown up and become a team leader.

But that doesn't mean the problems are gone.

Current center Joshua Smith, another highly-rated recruit, has been allowed to underachieve without consequence this season, according to the Sports Illustrated story. Smith showed up for the season out of shape and has been allowed to miss meetings and arrive unprepared for workouts, according to the report.


"Same thing as before," an unidentified player told the magazine. "Josh is a star and so [Howland] isn't holding him accountable."

Before the article was published, however, Howland said during a regularly scheduled news conference that he has made mistakes in the past.

"No one is perfect," he said. "I would never claim to be that person. Everybody makes mistakes. I'm definitely not perfect."

Sports Illustrated: "Not the UCLA way" by George Dohrmann

FYI -

Just because I posted this here, doesn't mean I agree with its content. I decided to post the SI article since everyone in Bruinland is talking about it. Consider yourself informed about all the hoopla.

GO, Coach Ben Howland!!!

GO, Bruins!!! 

- atrojanedbruin

To read the SI article, click here


Howland: "I'm definitely not perfect"

By Peter Yoon

ESPNLA, UCLA Report

February, 28, 2012 4:18 PM PT

LOS ANGELES--UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland acknowledged Tuesday that he had been contacted by Sports Illustrated for a potentially damaging article that is coming out this week.

Howland said he doesn't not know the topic of the story, but various reports have tabbed it as an expose about Howland being responsible for diminishing a once-proud program because of his inability to relate to players.

"No one is perfect," Howland said when discussing the article. "I would never claim to be that person. Everybody makes mistakes. I’m definitely not perfect."

The following exchange with Howland took place during his weekly press conference. Again, the article has not yet been published so neither Howland nor the media members asking the questions were aware of the exact content of the article when the exchange took place:

Q: HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE SPORT ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE?
A: I know there is an article coming out and I think it’s tomorrow.

Q: WERE YOU CONTACTED FOR IT?
A: I was contacted last Wednesday or Thursday.

Q: DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT’S ABOUT?
A: I can’t speculate.

Q: HOW DO YOU HANDLE POTENTIAL NEGATIVE PUBLICITY WITH RECRUITS?
A: Make the players we’re involved with aware of it and we’ve done that so it’s not coming out without some knowledge of the article.

Q: ARE YOU AWARE OF A DRUG PROBLEM WITH YOUR TEAM?
A: Specifically I can’t talk about any former player or student relative having to do with that. We have a comprehensive drug policy here at UCLA where any time someone fails a random drug test, I’m alerted, the trainer is alerted and the person overseeing the drug policy here. And there is a very good and outstanding program in place for student athletes of all teams to receive education and receive counseling and to receive discipline.

Q: DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE HANDLED ALL INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR CORRECTLY?
A: With specific players in terms of working with our student athletes--I guess I have to ask you to be more specific.

Q: IF YOU SAW A PLAYER DO SOMETHING INAPPROPRIATE, DO YOU THINK YOU’VE HANDLED THOSE THINGS CORRECTLY?
A: Yeah, I think for the most part, I have.

Q: THE MOST PART?
A: I’d have to go back and look at specifics. You’re speaking in generalities. No one is perfect. I would never claim to be that person. Everybody makes mistakes. I’m definitely not perfect.

UCLA cannot hold off Arizona, loses in desert 65-63

Blog post updated Feb 26, 2012 12:09 PM PT

Senior guard Jerime Anderson drives to the basket during a fast break. The point guard scores 20 pts on 9-of-16 shooting. Daily Bruin Blaine Ohigashi

Bruins' road woes continue in 65-63 loss to Arizona Wildcats

By SAM STRONG
Daily Bruin in Men's BasketballSports

Published February 25, 2012, 5:18 pm                      

TUCSON, Ariz. — As Jerime Anderson’s potential game-tying shot glanced off the backside of the rim and fell to the floor, so did the heads of everyone on the UCLA bench.

Another second-half lead in a conference road game, another disappointing loss, this time to Arizona on Saturday at McKale Center 65-63.

UCLA held a six-point lead with just over 10 minutes to play but failed to defend Arizona guard Kyle Fogg, who finished with a game-high 20 points, when it mattered most.

It’s a familiar scenario for the Bruins who finished 3-6 in conference road games this season, tied for their second-worst road performance in coach Ben Howland’s tenure.

“It’s really disappointing to lose this game after playing well enough to win,” said Howland, who uttered similar lines in road losses to Oregon and Washington when his team gave up double-digit, second-half leads.

UCLA weathered the storm in one of the toughest places to play in the conference for roughly 30 minutes but after surrendering the lead, the Bruins would never retake it.
When prompted for a reason why they haven’t been able to finish off close games on the road, each person had a different answer.

Howland talked of poor free throw shooting and not getting calls while others mentioned the lack of a leader or go-to scorer. Sophomore guard Tyler Lamb had no such explanation.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know. I have turnovers at the end of the game and I have to cut down on that. That doesn’t help our team.”

Trailing by four with 29 seconds left, UCLA (16-13, 9-7) forced Arizona (21-9, 12-5) to burn a timeout before forcing a turnover on the inbound pass but just as quickly as the Bruins had the ball back, Lamb dribbled it off his foot and out of bounds on the ensuing possession.

Although Arizona’s Solomon Hill would go on to miss both of his free throws, Howland called Lamb’s turnover “big.”

Playing on Arizona’s senior day, only one of UCLA’s senior guards looked like a senior as Anderson led his team in scoring with 20 points. Fellow senior guard Lazeric Jones finished with just two after going for 20 himself two nights earlier. Fogg was draped all over Jones for the majority of the contest.

“I thought (Fogg) got him a little bit out of his rhythm and sometimes you start pressing rather than being patient and letting it come,” Howland said. “As a primary scorer, he’s got to learn how to do that better.”

Jones is the team’s only captain but redshirt sophomore Travis Wear said Jones’ struggles were no excuse for faltering in crunch time.

“Even if some players have bad games, it shouldn’t affect everyone,” Wear said. “We’re a team and we have to pick each other up.”

Foul trouble again limited center Joshua Smith who scored nine points in 14 limited minutes. Smith picked up three fouls in the first half and was playing with four for the majority of the second half.

Howland said that the sophomore’s conditioning continues to be a problem.

“It’s hard for him to get rhythm when he’s only playing that many minutes,” Howland said. “You could see he got tired out there tonight.”

Regardless of where the blame lies, UCLA’s road woes are over for this season as the Bruins’ two remaining conference games come next week at the Sports Arena where they will host to Washington State on Thursday and Washington on Saturday.

____________________

UCLA's Tyler Lamb drives to the basket around Arizona's Nick Johnson, left, during the first half. WILY LOW, AP MORE PHOTOS »


Fogg helps Arizona hold off UCLA



By SCOTT M. REID / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Feb. 25, 2012 Updated: 8:44 p.m.     


TUCSON - It's only fitting that Kyle Fogg is majoring in psychology at Arizona. After all, the Wildcats guard has been in UCLA's head for four years.

UCLA got lost in Fogg City one last time Saturday. Owning both ends of the McKale Center court when it mattered, Fogg, playing his final home game, willed Arizona to a 65-63 victory against the Bruins on an afternoon that was critical to both teams' postseason plans.

Having shut down UCLA guard Lazeric Jones from the opening tip, Fogg, with the game and perhaps Arizona's NCAA Tournament hopes fading, took over the offensive end as well in the closing minutes. He scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the final 6:01, and five points in last 53 seconds.

“He brought them back,” UCLA forward Travis Wear said.

And shut down UCLA. In addition to holding Jones to two points, the former Brea Olinda High standout also pulled down nine rebounds, another a game high, and handed out a team-high three assists.

“To have the plays that he had on defense,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said, “and to do what he did on offense today, he was clearly the best player in the game.”

“It was one game I will never forget,” Fogg said.

Neither will UCLA (16-13, 9-7 Pac-12).

For all of Fogg's Senior Day heroics, the Bruins still had a chance to win, or at least send the game into overtime, in the final seconds. But Jerime Anderson's jumper on what both Anderson and UCLA coach Ben Howland later admitted was an ill-conceived play, bounced off the rim as the buzzer.

“We were looking for a fake handoff and go, and it just wasn't there,” Howland said. “It was my fault.”

“In retrospect we should have come down and run an iso or a flat screen up top,” Anderson said.

There will be plenty of second-guessing about a season in which the underachieving, dysfunctional Bruins have gone from preseason Pac-12 favorites to needing to win four games in four days in next month's conference tournament and sneak into the NCAA Tournament with the Pac-12's automatic berth.

“We had the game,” UCLA guard Tyler Lamb said. “It went down to the wire, and we made some costly mistakes.”

Certainly, Saturday's ending looked all too familiar to the Bruins after blowing sizable leads in losses at Oregon and Washington earlier this season. Of UCLA's seven road losses, five have been by three or fewer points.

Less than 48 hours after lighting up Arizona State for 20 points, Jones was reduced to a non-factor from the opening tip by Fogg. Jones was 1 for 12 from the field and didn't earn a single foul shot.

“Fogg did a great job of defending him,” Howland said, referring to Jones. “He got him a little bit out of his rhythm.”

Even so UCLA took a 45-39 lead with 10:09 remaining on an Anderson layup.

Anderson, who battled Fogg in the Orange County high school wars while playing for Canyon, also finished with 20 points. But it was Fogg who owned the day.

Coming out of a timeout after Anderson's basket, Fogg stepped up and nailed a 3-point jumper.

“I wanted to give the guys energy,” Fogg said. “We picked it up a notch.”

The 3-pointer, Howland said “was key.”

____________________


ARIZONA 65, UCLA 63: Bruins can't solve Arizona senior guard Fogg

 

By Jon Gold, Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Daily News

Posted: 02/25/2012 10:55:41 PM PST

Updated: 02/25/2012 10:57:45 PM PST

TUCSON, Ariz. - Tyler Lamb was a step behind and Anthony Stover was a second late. The two UCLA sophomores simply looked lost.

In a Fogg, you could say.

Arizona senior guard Kyle Fogg drained a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left among mass UCLA confusion to give the Wildcats a six-point cushion, and they eventually closed out the Bruins with a 65-63 Pacific-12 Conference victory at McKale Center in front of 14,724.

UCLA guard Jerime Anderson - who matched Fogg's game-high 20 points - had a chance to tie the score with a second left, but his jump shot clanked off the rim.
It was the Bruins' fifth road loss by less than three points in 2012.

"This one is very tough," a sullen Anderson said after the game. "I don't know if this is the toughest loss we've taken all year ... but it's up there."

Particularly after wrestling the lead away from Arizona midway through the second half and maintaining a slight advantage until roughly four minutes remained.
If not for Fogg, the Bruins might have coasted.

Playing to a packed house on Senior Day, the rivalry's biggest recent barometer turned it on just as UCLA did.

Fogg - who has averaged 20 points in the Wildcats' four wins over the Bruins since 2009 and just nine points in three losses - scored 11 of Arizona's 15 points during UCLA's second-half run, never letting the Wildcats fall behind by more than four.
His free throw with 4:06 left gave Arizona a 54-53 lead and the Wildcats (21-9, 12-5 Pac-12) never trailed again.

"As he goes, they go," Anderson said. "He started getting it going in the second half, getting to the free-throw line, then he started to find some comfortability, hit some 3 s. He's a good player, he's always been a good player."
Anderson knows well.

The two have squared off against each other since meeting randomly in a rec gym in eighth grade and they traded points Saturday once more. With Fogg shutting down UCLA's leading scorer Lazeric Jones - who had 20 points in a 66-57 win over Arizona State on Thursday but just two points on 1-of-12 shooting against the Wildcats - Anderson rose to the occasion.

Except on the hurried last possession, as UCLA had no timeouts following a Fogg free throw with seven seconds left. The Bruins ran a fake handoff, though Anderson said he "would've rather just come down and had an iso or maybe a flat screen, something up top." Precious seconds dripped off the clock, and Anderson was forced to take an off-balance jumper with less than two seconds left.

"You always want to make the big shot, just help your team to a win," Anderson said. "That's the only thing that matters at the end of the day. I could care less if I scored 40 points as long as we get the 'W.'"

Anderson had to take matters into his own hands as his teammates crumbled under the pressure.

Excluding Anderson, who made 9-of-16 shots, the Bruins shot just 16 of 45 from the field and 11 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Joshua Smith's foul trouble didn't help matters for UCLA (16-13, 9-7) as the hulking sophomore center was called for two quick fouls in the first half and then added a third before the break, eventually finishing with four fouls but nine points and five rebounds.

"He's getting the same fouls over and over and they're reaching fouls," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "His first foul of the game was reaching in. He has to play to his size and we keep talking about it, hopefully he'll eventually be able to do it because he was very effective for us and he only got to play 14 minutes."

With Smith burdened by foul trouble, Howland still insisted on going into the post as David and Travis Wear combined for 21 points and 16 rebounds in 56 total minutes.

Eventually, though, when it mattered most, UCLA was unsure where to go.

Arizona had Fogg, the venerable leader who helped bridge the gap between the pre-Derrick Williams Wildcats and now the post-Williams Wildcats.

The Bruins had Anderson, who only demands the ball some of the time.

On Saturday, not enough.

"We've had trouble at the end of games and that's the focus then," Anderson said. "We never really made a point to point that guy out, per se. That's an important thing you do on a team.

"There should be that guy."

Almost 30 games into the season, that player appears lost, though.

In a fog, you might say.


____________________


UCLA upset bid falls short at Arizona


Kyle Fogg scores 16 of his 20 points in the second half and hits a key three-pointer to give the Wildcats a 65-63 win over the visiting Bruins.


Associated Press
via The Los Angeles Times
February 25, 2012 4:45 PM PST

TUCSON — Kyle Fogg hit a big three-point shot while scoring 16 of his 20 points in the second half and hounded UCLA's Lazeric Jones into a horrible shooting game, helping Arizona hold on to beat the Bruins, 65-63, on Saturday.

Hoping to stay in line for at least an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, Arizona (21-9, 12-5 Pac-12) struggled against UCLA's front line, had trouble getting shots to go in until late and had to slug it out in a sometimes ugly game against the middle-of-the-pack Bruins.

The Wildcats' upperclassmen made sure it didn't end in disappointment.

Jesse Perry had 12 points in the second half and had eight rebounds. Junior Solomon Hill had 13 points and teamed with Perry to keep numerous possessions alive with relentlessness on the offensive glass, particularly in the second half.

Fogg played his usual in-your-jersey defense, holding Jones to two points on one-of-12 shooting, hit a three-pointer with 53 seconds left to put Arizona up by six and grabbed nine rebounds.

"This team, more than any other team I've been a part of, has been a function of seniors really just leading and playing exceptional at the end," Arizona Coach Sean Miller said. "I think it makes us all feel good to see these guys kind of finish off what they started a long time ago."

UCLA (16-13, 9-7) led midway through the second half and managed to stay close until the end despite Jones' shooting woes and center Joshua Smith's foul trouble.

Jerime Anderson picked up the load with Jones unable to get anything to fall, scoring 20 points. Travis Wear did his best to fill the hefty shoes of Smith, getting 13 points and seven rebounds. Tyler Lamb added 11 points, including a banked-in three-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer that seemed to give the Bruins momentum in the second half.

They just couldn't finish it off, even after Arizona missed four of six free throws in the final 23 seconds. Anderson had the last shot at the buzzer, but his jumper sailed long.

"The outcome of tonight's game was really tough," Wear said. "We were able to maintain the lead throughout almost the entire game and we weren't even playing at our best. The loss really hurts."

Two of the conference's traditional powers came into the game needing wins.

Arizona was left with a slim margin for error after an up-and-down season.

A loss to Washington last weekend left the Wildcats two games out of first in the Pac-12, their chances of repeating as conference champions barely dangling.

Arizona followed that up with a resounding win over USC on Thursday, keeping the door open for at least an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament if it doesn't win the Pac-12 tournament. Of course, the Trojans are last in the Pac-12, so it was more of a don't-screw-it-up game for the Wildcats.

UCLA was looking for something positive at the end of a disappointing season, its only hope at the NCAA tournament being to win the conference tournament.

The preseason co-favorites to win the Pac-12, the Bruins got off to a miserable start and never really recovered, pretty much out of the conference race since mid-January.

UCLA won its first game of this trip, knocking off Arizona State, 66-57, behind Jones' 20 points.

Past matchups between these Pac-12 powers were normally blink-and-you'll-miss games, filled with alley-oops and fastbreak dunks.

This one played out more like an instructional video on half-court basketball, the teams walking it up and scoring intermittently, not in bunches.

The Bruins struggled with their shooting touch at times, launching at least five airballs, while Jones was 0 for 4 in the half. Smith played just four minutes after tweaking his back in practice Friday and picking up three fouls trying to guard the quicker Perry.

The Wildcats had a couple of lengthy stretches without a field goal and had some careless turnovers in the early going, including a double-dribble by Angelo Chol that caused Miller to punch the scorer's table behind him.

Arizona led, 27-26, after the first half and the bogged-down style didn't change in the second, with each team opening with an airball in a bruising game.

"Just a war," Miller said.

UCLA started to hit a few shots, building a six-point lead midway through, but Arizona wouldn't go away despite another long stretch without a field goal, staying within reach behind the relentlessness of Hill and Perry, who battled for offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive.

Fogg took it from there, dropping in a three-pointer and repeatedly got inside to draw fouls, then hit his three-pointer with just under a minute left.

Lamb followed with a jumper and UCLA pulled within 63-61 on two free throws by Smith with 12 seconds left. Fogg made just two of four free throws after that to give the Bruins a final shot, but they couldn't convert, leading to another tough-to-take loss.

____________________



Rapid Reaction: Arizona 65, UCLA 63

By Peter Yoon

ESPNLA, UCLA Report

February, 25, 2012 2:35 PM PT

UCLA let a lead slip away late in the game yet again, losing to Arizona, 65-63, aturday in a Pac-12 game at McKale Center in Tucson. It was UCLA's fourth conference loss by three points or fewer--all of those coming on the road--and the fourth time in conference play the Bruins have lost a game in which they held a second-half lead.

A quick look at the game:

OVERVIEW: It was a back-and-forth battle throughout with 14 lead changes and seven ties, but things seemed to be going UCLA's way when Tyler Lamb hit a desperation 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to give the Bruins a 50-46 lead with 6:28 to play.

At that point, Arizona had made only five field goals in the second half and looked clueless against UCLA;s defense, but the Wildcats scored on eight consecutive possessions to take a 60-55 lead. The Bruins forced 15 turnovers and limited Arizona to 37.5% shooting for the game, but got only two turnovers in the final 10:53 and Arizona was six-of-six from the field over the final 7:10.

Arizona let UCLA stay in the game by making only two of six free throws in the final 30 seconds while Joshua Smith and Jerime Anderson combined to make four of four from the line in the final 12 seconds. Arizona's Kyle Fogg gave the Wildcats a 65-63 lead by making one of two free throws with 7.8 seconds to play, but UCLA, without a timeout, couldn't get off a clean shot and Anderson missed a potential game-tying jump shot at the buzzer.

Anderson matched his career high with 20 points, but didn't get much offensive help from his backcourt mates as Lazeric Jones and Tyler Lamb combined to make only five of 23 shots (21.7 percent). Travis Wear added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins (16-13, 9-7 Pac-12).

Kyle Fogg had 20 points, 16 in the second half, to lead Arizona (21-9, 12-5).


TURNING POINT: Lamb picked up his fourth personal foul with 6:28 to play and UCLA coach Ben Howland switched his best defender off of Fogg, who proceeded to score eight consecutive points over the next two minutes and had 13 of his 20 points in the final 6:28.

Fogg, Arizona's leading scorer, had only seven points on two of nine shooting while Lamb was guarding him, but was able to find open shots and drive the lane without Lamb's hounding defense. Even when Lamb went back on Fogg, Lamb was unable to play as aggressively because of the fear of picking up his fourth foul. Fogg made eight of 11 free throws and was two-of-two from the field in the final 6:28, including a back-breaking three-pointer that gave Arizona a 63-57 lead with 53 seconds to play.

UCLA STAR OF THE GAME: Anderson was the clear star on offense with 20 points on nine-of-15 shooting. He played consistently throughout with 10 points in each half and also added four rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.

He also made a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to keep UCLA within a point at 64-63. He scored eight of UCLA's final 20 points.


STAT OF THE GAME: Jones, UCLA's leading scorer, was 1-12 from the field and scored only two points. It was the second time in two tries that Jones has played a forgettable game at McKale Center. Last year, he was 0-7 and had no points in Tucson.

A couple of other key stats: UCLA shot 61.1 percent (11-18) from the free throw line and was seven of 14 before Smith and Anderson made four of four in the waning seconds. Those misses loom large in a two-point loss. Also, Smith played only 14 minutes, including only four in the first half, because of foul trouble. He was nearly unstoppable in the post when he played, scoring nine points, but couldn't stay on the floor long enough to make a major difference.

WHAT IT MEANS: UCLA's odds of making the NCAA tournament got a lot longer.

If the Bruins are going to make the NCAA tournament, they are going to probably going to have to do it the hard way: win four games in four days during the Pac-12 tournament. The best UCLA can finish in Pac-12 play now is 11-7, which means the Bruins will need help in the form of three losses by Oregon (10-5) and two by Colorado (10-5) if the Bruins are going to get a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.

Unless that unlikely scenario happens, the Bruins are headed for a six- or seventh-place finish in the conference and will have to play in the opening round. No team has won the Pac-10 tournament by winning four games in four days.

 

 

Boxscore (Yahoo Sports)

Key League Battle When UCLA Visits Arizona

Key League Battle When UCLA Visits Arizona


Bruins on the outside looking in, but can bolster its cause with a win at Arizona.

Travis Wear scored a game-high 20 points in this year's earlier win over Arizona in Honda Center.

UCLA Men's Basketball website

Feb. 24, 2012

TUCSON, Ariz. -


UCLA Game Notes | Arizona Game Notes | 2011-12 Media Guide
Gametracker | Live Audio


GAMEDAY CENTRAL
DATE: Feb. 25, 2012
SITE: McKale Center (14,545)
TIP-OFF: Noon (MT)/11:00 a.m. (PT)
TV: CBS
TALENT: Brian Anderson (play-by-play) and Dan Bonner (analyst)
RADIO (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 570
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO (Arizona's): Channel 94
SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO (Arizona's): Channel 195
TALENT: Chris Roberts (play-by-play) and Don MacLean (analyst)
SERIES RECORD: UCLA leads 49-35
SERIES RECORD AT ARIZONA: Arizona leads 21-14
SERIES STREAK OVERALL: UCLA +2


SERIES VS. ARIZONA
This is the 85th meeting between UCLA and Arizona with the Bruins leading the series 49-35 (.583). UCLA is 14-21 (.400) all-time in games at Arizona and has won three of the last six in Tucson, Ariz. The Bruins lost last year's matchup 85-74 in the McKale Center on Jan. 27, 2011. Reeves Nelson led all players with a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. Malcolm Lee added 16 points, Jerime Anderson chipped in 11 points and Joshua Smith had 10 for the Bruins. Derrick Williams led Arizona with 22 points. Lamont Jones had 17 points and Kyle Fogg added 14 more for the `Cats, which shot 52% from the field, compared to UCLA's 41.4%. The Bruins won this year's earlier meeting 65-58 on Jan. 5, 2011 at Honda Center. The game also served as this year's John R. Wooden Classic. Travis Wear led all scorers with 20 points while David Wear added 14 points. Solomon Hill led Arizona with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Head Coach Ben Howland is 11-9 all-time against Arizona.

CHARTING COACH HOWLAND
Ben Howland earned his 300th victory of his career with the 72-54 win over DePaul in the 15th Annual John R. Wooden Classic (Dec. 13, 2008). He is currently 373-193 (.659), which ranks 35th on the winningest active coaches list by percentage and 50th on the active list by victories. Howland's first career victory was his first game at Northern Arizona in 1994, a 71-69 victory over New Mexico Highlands. His 100th career victory came in his second season at Pittsburgh in the 77-65 win at home over Seton Hall (Jan. 13, 2001). His 200th win came in his third season at UCLA with the 56-37 home win over Delaware State (Nov. 19, 2005). Howland is 19-9 (.679) in the NCAA Tournament (15-6 (.714) at UCLA).

COACH HOWLAND HITS MILESTONES
Head Coach Ben Howland attained his 200th career victory at UCLA with the win over Utah (Jan. 26, 2012) and currently sits at 205-95 (.683) in his ninth season at the helm of the Bruins. With the win over Eastern Washington (Dec. 14), Howland passed Jim Harrick for second place on the all-time UCLA career victories list. Harrick posted a 192-62 record in his eight seasons (1988-89 to 1995-96) as the Bruins' mentor. Coach John R. Wooden is the all-time leader at 620-147 (.808) in his 27 seasons (1948-49 to 1974-75).

BRUINS' INJURY REPORT
Sophomore center Anthony Stover missed practice on Feb. 10 and the California game (Feb. 11) with tendonitis in his left foot. He was able to practice for an hour on Monday (Feb. 13) and complete a full practice on Tuesday. He didn't play against USC (Feb. 15) or St. John's (Feb. 18) due to a coaches decision. He played 11 minutes in the win at Arizona State (Feb. 23) and had two rebounds and one block.

JONES LEADING UCLA
Senior point guard Lazeric Jones had his career-best eight straight games in double figures snapped in the loss at Cal (Dec. 31). He has scored in double figures in 16 of the last 21 games. The Bruins are 14-7 in the last 21 contests after starting the season 2-5. In the last 21 games, Jones has averaged 14.0 points, 4.4 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 46.7 percent (107-for-229) from the field and 40.5 percent (32-for-79) from three-point range.

TWIN PEAKS
The Wear twins (David and Travis) have scored in double figures in the same game 10 times this season and they have done so in eight of the last 17 contests. Additionally, they both posted double-doubles in the home win over USC (Feb. 15) with David registering 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds and Travis recording 14 points and a then-career-high 11 boards. In the last 15 games, Travis has averaged 12.6 points while David is averaging 12.5 points per game. David has shot 55.0 percent from the floor (72-for-131) while making 62.5 percent (10-for-16) of his three-point shots and draining 33-for-41 (.805) from the free-throw line. Travis has shot 55.6 percent (70-for-126) from the field while sinking 36-for-43 (.837) of his free throw attemtps. Combined, they are 142-for-257 (.553) from the field and 69-for-84 (.821) from the charity stripe in the last 14 games.

2012 PAC-12 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT COMBINED MEN'S & WOMEN'S ALL-SESSION PACKAGES
Experience the March to Madness and help your Bruins feel at home in Staples Center! There are 2012 Pac-12 Basketball all-session ticket packages available online or by calling (310) UCLA-WIN today.
All-Session $283: includes lower-level seat to both the men's and women's basketball Pac-12 Tournaments.
All-Session $115: includes an upper-level men's basketball seat and a lower-level women's basketball seat to the Pac-12 Tournaments.
All men's games are played at Staples Center. The first two rounds of the women's tournament are at Galen Center and the semifinals and finals will be held at Staples Center.

2011-12 "BRUIN ROAD SHOW" TICKETS
The Bruins host two more home games at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (downtown L.A.). Catch both exciting contests in UCLA's inaugural Pac-12 season.
Mini-Plans: Everybody wins with options starting at $49.
Group Tickets: Games are better in groups starting at $15.
Single-Game Tickets: Choose your games starting at $15.
UCLA Ticket Spot

UCLA goes for season sweep of Arizona

Even in a down year, UCLA-Arizona is big

By Peter Yoon

ESPNLA, UCLA Report

February, 24, 2012 4:58 PM PT

When UCLA visits Arizona on Saturday, the game won't carry conference title implications as meetings between the Pac-12's powerhouse teams often have over the past two decades, but that doesn't mean it's a meaningless game.

Arizona (20-9, 11-5) and UCLA (16-12, 9-6) are among the five teams battling for a top-four seeding in the Pac-12 tournament and the loser of the game Saturday at 11 a.m. at the McKale Center might be on the outside looking in when it comes to a coveted first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.

"It’s very important," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Obviously we’re coming down the stretch here with only three games left in the regular season so it’s important for our potential mathematically to still have a chance to be a team that gets a bye in the first round. It’s important to try to get as high a seed as possible in the tournament and obviously we want to win."

Oregon (10-5 Pac-12), Colorado (10-5) and Stanford (9-7) are also among those fighting for those spots. California (13-3) has already secured a top-four spot and Washington (12-3) is one win away from dong the same. Any team finishing outside the top four would have to win four games in four days to win the Pac-12 tournament and earn the automatic NCAA berth that comes with it. No team has ever gone 4-0 in a Pac-10 tournament.

In other words, UCLA's chances of making the NCAA tournament may very well rest in the outcome of Saturday's game.

"If you just look at the percentages, the likelihood that someone is going to win four games in four days is very, very difficult," Howland said.

The Bruins defeated Arizona, 65-58, Jan. 5 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, but Arizona is a different team in February. The Wildcats finished January at 5-4 in conference play, but have won six of seven games in February, including a difficult sweep of Stanford and California on the road.

"They are improving," Howland said. "When they went to the Bay Area trip and swept that trip it really gave them some momentum and they’ve been playing very well."

Guard Kyle Fogg leads the team with 12.9 points and forward Solomon Hill is having what Howland called an All-Pac-12 type of season with 12.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

The Wildcats, however, lack the size of UCLA, which was able to exploit that advantage earlier this season even though 6-foot-10, 305-pound center Joshua Smith sat out because of concussion symptoms. Travis and David Wear, 6-10 twin forwards, combined for 34 points on 13-of -16 shooting in that game.

Howland said Smith "tweaked" his back" Friday in practice and might not be able to play against the Wildcats again. He will be evaluated Saturday before the game and Howland said his presence would be welcomed on the offensive end against the smaller Wildcats.

"He poses problems for them matchup-wise because they don’t really have a five man that they play," Howland said. "There are matchup issues for Josh defensively trying to match up with Arizona’s personnel and that is [the same] for their team as well when he’s in the game."

Howland said Tyler Lamb would return to the starting lineup after starting Thursday's game on the bench because he "missed an academic responsibility." Guard Lazeric Jones, however, will be responsible for carrying the offensive load on the outside for the Bruins -- something he did well in the second half Thursday night against Arizona State.

Jones had 13 points against Arizona in the last meeting, but was 0-for-5 on 3-pointers and only 5-for-16 overall. That was his first game after being moved from point guard to shooting guard and is still adjusting to that role, but played with more of a shooter's mentality on Thursday.

"We’re trying to run more of our offense to get Zeek opportunities to shoot or to make plays off of his opportunities to shoot," Howland said. "I think that really helped us. I’ve been on him about passing up open shots from the perimeter and driving when he didn’t need to. He could just shoot. I thought he did a good job of that [Thursday] night."

The Bruins will need Jones to be hitting from the outside and the Wears and Smith, if he plays, to be on their games in the middle. It will be difficult to stay motivated when a top-four finish is all that's on the line against a conference rival such as Arizona, but the Bruins say they remain upbeat.

"We can’t do anything but be positive right now," Jones said. "I still have really high hopes for the Pac-12 tournament so we can’t do anything but be positive. We know it’s been up and down [this season], but the fact that guys are still smiling and continue to have fun shows a lot about the character of the team."