Gadzuric’s fire gets him into foul trouble

By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

On this night, too, Dan Gadzuric was clumsily lumbering about
the floor like a man walking on stilts, but the Bruins’ big
man managed to relight the fire that had been stepped on and turned
into mere ash at some point earlier this season.

There was one little problem: he came in with too much fire.

When he probably needed only a single match to burn enough fuel
to outduel Stanford center Curtis Borchardt, Gadzuric came in with
a blow torch and burned his way off the court.

Overcome with emotion, Gadzuric once again got in foul trouble
Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion when the Bruins were decked by
Stanford 86-76.

He scored 10 points during his first 10 minutes on the floor,
dominating the 7-foot Borchardt.

That’s good, no?

Yes, except that Gadzuric picked up three fouls in that span
““ for the mathematically impaired, that’s a foul every
three minutes and 20 seconds ““ and spent the rest of his time
on the bench.

“I made stupid mistakes when I was too fired up,”
said Gadzuric, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds but
played only 20 minutes. “It’s frustrating. I want to go
in and be a threat. I want to be on the floor.”

Earlier this week, Gadzuric said he would be making an extra
effort to stay out of foul trouble and remain on the court.

And he tried, it seemed, but couldn’t resist using his
tentacle-like arms to slap opposing flesh.

His absence, naturally, hurt UCLA.

The Bruins were outrebounded 25-16 in the first half and 45-37
throughout the contest.

Even when Gadzuric was in, the number of fouls he had made him
less inclined to contest shots.

“It’s tough,” Borchardt said of squaring off
against Gadzuric. “He’s really strong and explosive and
he runs the floor. He’s just a real good player.

“His team really needs him out there because they’re
much better when he is.”

Gadzuric’s teammates defended him, questioning some of the
calls that were made.

“Hopefully, those referees will let us play a little
bit,” forward Matt Barnes said. “He’s getting a
lot of touch fouls. He’s not trying to kill people out
there.”

Yet, Gadzuric admitted that some of the fouls he committed were
indefensible.

Among them was one six minutes into the second half, when
Gadzuric was called for reaching in on Borchardt at the top of the
key.

“It was a stupid decision,” he said. “I
realized it once I went for it. I asked myself, “˜What am I
doing?'”

There was, however, some reason to be optimistic that Gadzuric
would be able to handle himself better in the future.

He was, at least, able to recognize when he was too pumped
up.

During the game’s first timeout at the 15:33 mark of the
opening half, Gadzuric asked Bruin head coach Steve Lavin to pull
him for the game.

Initially, it appeared to be a tactical move by Lavin intended
to maximize the center’s time on the hardwood.

Not so.

“It was my decision to come out,” he said.

“I felt too wound up. My heart rate started going
up.”