The junior forward is being dismissed immediately from the program.
The Official UCLA Men's Basketball website
Dec. 9, 2011
LOS ANGELES - UCLA Men's Basketball Coach Ben Howland has dismissed Junior forward Reeves Nelson from the team, he announced today.
"After much thought and deliberation, I have made the decision to dismiss Reeves Nelson from the UCLA Men's Basketball Team effective immediately," said Howland. "This decision is not one that I take lightly, but it is in the best interest of both the program and the student-athlete."
Nelson had started in only one game this season and played in six of the seven contests. He was seventh on the team in scoring at 5.7 points per game and fourth on the team in rebounding (4.5 rpg).
He was a first team All-Pac-10 selection after the conclusion of the 2010-11 season as he led UCLA in scoring (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (9.1 rpg).
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Reeves Nelson dismissed from UCLA basketball team
The Los Angeles Times
December 9, 2011 | 11:19 am
Reeves Nelson, UCLA's leading scorer and rebounder a year ago, and a Sports Illustrated cover subject on its basketball issue two months ago, has been dismissed from the UCLA basketball team, Coach Ben Howland announced Friday.
Nelson, a 6-foot-9 junior forward from Modesto, was in the process of serving his second suspension of this season when he and Howland met Friday after Nelson finished final exams.
"After much thought and deliberation, I have made the decision to dismiss Reeves Nelson from the UCLA men's basketball team effective immediately," Howland said in a statement.
Both suspensions this season had come because of insubordinate behavior. In what turned out to be his final game for UCLA last Saturday, a 69-59 loss to Texas, Nelson spent the entire second half on the bench and was seen laughing and pointing to a small group of people in the crowd at the Sports Arena that was chanting his name near the end of the game.
Tuesday, a day after Nelson was suspended for the second time, Howland said there were defined things Nelson needed to do to begin practicing and playing again.
"He needs to stay consistent," Howland said. "The last time he was suspended, when we did bring him back, he had the best practice the first practice, the first day back. Last week’s practices, he was falling back into the same habits.
"It's definitely a distraction and we don’t need any distractions. It’s tough enough to come together without being distracted. It’s a tough situation with them (the team) because many of them are close friends with Reeves off the floor."
UCLA (2-5) plays its next game at 4 p.m. Saturday against Pennsylvania at the Honda Center.
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