Concussion protocol, Bruins coach Ben Howland said on Friday, called for Wear to sit out.
"Normal protocol for someone who's been determined to have a concussion is that there's a certain amount of steps and days," Howland said. "He will not be available."
Wear told reporters on Thursday night that he thought it might've been an elbow to the head that gave way to concussion-like symptoms, as he explained that both of his arms went numb and he felt "out of it" after the specific play. At the time, he expressed hope that he'd be cleared for Saturday's game.
But with the 6-10 junior out, UCLA (16-4, 6-1) will have to play one man down, giving Howland just a seven-man rotation to work with. The lack of depth could even force walk-on big man Sooren Derboghosian into action, Howland said.
Aside from obvious depth issues, Wear's absence will be a significant loss for the Bruins' frontcourt, especially given the importance of Saturday's game against the Sun Devils, as UCLA stands just one game behind Oregon in the Pac-12 standings. Before Thursday's game, Wear had been averaging 16.7 points per game on 58 percent shooting since the Bruins' December victory over then-No. 7 Missouri.
Wear's concussion also leaves the door open for freshman Tony Parker to get more playing time on Saturday after he performed admirably in 10 minutes of playing time against Arizona, scoring six points and pulling down three rebounds. Howland has made it a point to heap praise on Parker in recent weeks, as questions have continued to pile up about why the young big man wasn't getting much opportunity during the conference slate.
Still, while his offense looked good on Thursday – especially when Parker made an impressive fadeaway from the post while being fouled – his defense continues to be the area Parker needs to improve most in.
"It's always defense.," Howland said. "If you can go into the game and hold your own defensively and do the job, that makes such a huge difference. I thought Tony gave us good minutes off the bench last night."
GUCCI BACKPACK-GATE
After a Yahoo! Sports column from Thursday night's victory of Arizona mentioned rather pointedly that UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammad left the game wearing a Gucci backpack – a designer bag that's retail value, the writer insinuated, was likely around $1,000 – chatter about Muhammad's eligibility, which had been tabled since his NCAA case had closed, seemed to begin again on Friday.
It was enough of an issue that Howland was forced to address it – albeit briefly – in his Thursday teleconference.
"Our compliance is handling it," Howland said. "They're very professional, and we're aware of the situation."
When asked further about the article, Howland refused to comment.
However, Asia Muhammad, Shabazz's sister, took to Twitter to answer many of the questions that began to swirl following the article.
"I read your condescending remark about (Shabazz) leaving with a Gucci backpack after beating Arizona," Asia said, addressing the writer on Twitter. "That was a birthday gift from myself and his mother. I have the original receipt if you need to verify that. (Shabazz) doesn't need anything from anyone besides his family. I understand you're a very distinguished writer, congrats on that, but you're barking up the wrong tree on this one."
Contact the writer:
rkartje@ocregister.com
No comments:
Post a Comment