Bruins ready for Bay Area battle

Bruins ready for Bay Area battle

Bruins lead conference, but recent play portends trouble vs.
Cal, Stanford

By Melissa Anderson

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

It may not look like the championship team of last season, but
heading into its toughest road trip of the year, the UCLA men’s
basketball team is poised to reclaim its Pacific 10 title.

Despite two sloppy wins over the Oregon schools last weekend,
the Bruins (15-5 overall, 8-1 Pac-10) cling to a two-game lead in
the conference as they travel to the Bay Area Thursday to face
California and No. 25 Stanford. If UCLA continues to play the way
it has in the past two weeks, however, it may run into trouble.

"Sometimes, you don’t play quite as well as you’d like to and
you get out with a win," UCLA head coach Jim Harrick said. "I was
beginning to worry about our effort. But sometimes those games
occur and you’ve gotta beware."

Particularly discouraging has been the recent performance of
freshman Jelani McCoy, who scored no points and grabbed just three
rebounds in 15 minutes of action against Oregon State. According to
Harrick, however, McCoy is simply experiencing a slump typical of
many college freshmen.

"I had scheduled a talk with him (Monday) and he walked by me
and said ‘I’m back,’" Harrick said. "So I said, ‘OK, I guess I
don’t have much to say.’"

* * *

Junior Cameron Dollar is almost back to 100 percent after
sustaining injuries to both of his pinky fingers in the opening
weeks of the season. Though he will continue to wear a wrap on his
right hand for another week or two, doctors feel he is close to
being completely healthy.

However, Dollar will not replace sophomore Kris Johnson in the
starting lineup anytime soon, though Harrick has considered moving
Johnson to the pine in order to get more scoring off the bench.

"He’s getting better; he’s almost there," Harrick said of
Dollar.

* * *

Bob Myers’ career game against Oregon State last Saturday (20
points, five rebounds) earned him a Pac-10 Player of the Week
nomination and also helped to solidify his position as a
contributor for UCLA off the bench.

"We don’t expect him to do what he did Saturday every game,"
Harrick said, "but I believe he can help us. He’s going to be part
of our rotation."

* * *

The Bruins continue to struggle in the turnover department and
remain at the bottom of the conference in turnover margin
(-11.4).

Averaging 18.6 turnovers per game, UCLA has a tendency to try to
turn a simple dish into a spectacular one, often resulting in
mishandled passes and sloppy ball handling.

"We want to make the home run play, the spectacular play,"
Harrick said. "You can do that in summer league … but you can’t
do that in this league. I hope it gets better in the next five
weeks; that’s what we’re counting on."

UCLA is still leading the NCAA in field goal percentage with a
53.1 percent clip, and is tops in the conference in rebounds
(39.9), three-point field goal percentage (41.9) and field goal
percent defense.

* * *

Sophomore J.R. Henderson left Saturday’s game after just three
minutes of action with back spasms, but is expected to be at full
strength for this weekend’s match-ups.

ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin

Cameron Dollar is nearing full strength after enduring injuries
to both pinky fingers early in the season.

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