UCLA to host Riverside Wednesday

By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter

In its last three games, the UCLA men’s basketball team
has suffered two upset losses at the hands of upstart programs Ball
State and Pepperdine.

The Bruins (2-2) hope to stop the disturbing trend on Wednesday,
when Division I newcomer UC Riverside (0-4) visits Pauley
Pavilion.

“We wanna go out there and play good, solid ball,”
junior forward Jason Kapono said. “Hopefully, we come out
with a win.”

The good news for UCLA is that Riverside doesn’t thrive on
a speedy, fast-break offense like Pepperdine and Ball State. UCR
relies much more on man-to-man defense and an outside shooting
set-up, which should cater well to UCLA’s lackadaisical style
of defense.

“We have real concerns with our play at the defensive end
of the floor,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said.

Kapono agrees with his coach’s assessment.

“We’re not playing defense,” he said.
“Our whole team has to have a little heart and want to go out
there and play defense for 35 seconds.”

Riverside head coach John Masi might go with a three-guard
offense to create fast breaks, but UCR probably doesn’t have
the speed and experience to be as successful as UCLA’s
previous opponents.

One thing’s for sure: If UCLA has as much trouble with
Riverside as it did with Ball State and Pepperdine, it will be a
new abyss in a so-far dismal season.

“We need to clean up our deficiencies,” Lavin said.
“Winning is a byproduct of playing better at both ends of the
floor.”

If the Bruins want to blow out Riverside, they will need to be
led by Kapono, whose spirited play has been one of the few bright
spots for the team in the early going. Kapono is averaging 22.2
points in 34 minutes per game.

“He’s playing awesome,” said Bruin freshman
Cedric Bozeman, who will be unavailable for four to six weeks due
to a knee injury. “You can’t ask any more from Jason.
He’s shooting the ball well and doing every little thing to
keep us in games.”

UCLA center Dan Gadzuric hopes to turn his season around on
Wednesday. The senior, considered a Wooden Award candidate in the
preseason, is averaging just 3.5 points in 16.3 minutes per game.
He has been hampered by a nagging ankle injury that has been
plaguing him for months.

“Because of early foul trouble and injuries, Dan really
hasn’t been able to find his rhythm,” Lavin said.
“He’s on the mend physically, and I think as he gets
better, he’ll return as a dominant force for us.”

Riverside’s star player is sophomore center Vili Morton,
whose 6-foot-8, 225-pound frame makes him a formidable threat to
dominate the post against the struggling Gadzuric.

He is considered a top defender and has a keen shot-blocking
ability.

UCLA will need to contain Morton in order to pull out a
victory.

Morton is averaging 12.5 points and seven rebounds per game so
far this year.

The Bruins would love a victory heading into Saturday’s
showdown against Alabama in the Wooden Classic.

“We haven’t felt the feeling of winning in a couple
of weeks,” Kapono said. “Hopefully we can get that done
on Wednesday.”

For UCLA, getting that done would be a good start in trying to
right what so far has been a season of wrongs.