UGASports.com - Ben Howland presser quick hits

January 25, 2012

The biggest disappointment of UCLA head coach Ben Howland's weekend was allowing that big lead slip away against Oregon. Howland explains what happened.

"We let them go on that 9-0 run so quickly just on our mistakes," Howland said. "We had bad fouls that led to two free throws. A bad turnover and they come down and hit a three.

"They were very fortunate on the four-point play that the ball ended up in Garrett Sim's hands, but we fought back," Howland said. "We had an eight point lead with 10 or 11 minutes to go.

"It was a tied ball game with eight minutes to go," Howland said. "Allowing that big lead to go away so quickly was the most disappointing thing."

Like when the Bruins dropped two games in the Bay Area earlier in the season, the Bruins followed up with good practices and once again the Bruins have had an outstanding week of practice.

The defense or lack of it were reasons why the Bruins failed to win this past weekend and add into the equation the poor foul shooting against Oregon and you have the recipe for disappointment.

Howland noted that Anthony Stover played hard and gave the defense energy with blocked shots and even had a a tap in on the offensive end, but he still needs to be better on the glass. Howland mentioned that Stover had a great class on Monday.

Center Joshua Smith did play up to his capabilities this past weekend and that was a shame since his mom and dad were in the audience to watch him play.

Smith wasn't himself in the Bay Area but responded with this best practices of the season, but suffered a concussion and had sit out against Arizona, but came back in time to play one of his best games of the season against Arizona State.

Once again, Smith has responded with two of his best practices of the year. He feels badly by the way he played, especially since it was in front of his family.

Howland thinks Smith's lack of conditioning is the main reason why his season is going the way that it is. The good news for Smith is he's only a sophomore and has some time to become the type of player he has potential to be. Everyone knows how good this guy can be,

Howland noted that Tyler Lamb is a better player on the offensive end when he doesn't press and lets the offense come to him. He brought up how Arron Affalo could go a long time without never taking a shot but then all of sudden the offense would come and he would get his shots. He didn't stress much and let the offense come to him.

Lamb is a better player offensively when he lets the offense come to him and doesn't try to force it.

Howland would like to see Travis Wear shoot more since he is hitting at a 68 percent clip from the floor.

Howland was asked about Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt. He acknowledged that they would be a better team had they stayed. After all they were both all Pac 10 players a year ago. Howland lamented that you never leave school early to be a second rounder.

A lot of NBA players are broke after they are out of the league for three years, but Howland is proud how guys like Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah Moute are coming back and taking courses to finish their education even though they have done quite well in the NBA financially.

David Wear practiced the last two days so he's good to go. His twin brother Travis has had the flu, but he should be good to go tomorrow evening.

Though the Bruins haven't in conference outside of Los Angeles (thank you USC), they had a chance to win three of the four conference road games.

Luckily for the Bruins and their fans, the refurbished Pauley Pavilion will be back in action in the next five to six months. Howland gets a charge everyday he walks by as he can see the building get closer to finished.

The Bruins will not spend Wednesday night in hotel like they usually do when playing at the Sports Arena because they have school tomorrow. They stay downtown on Friday when they play Colorado.

Rick Kimbrel is the publisher of BruinBlitz.com. You can email him at rickpma@sbcglobal.net or follow him on twitter at @BruinBlitzcom.

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