Howland Presser - Quick Hits

Coach Ben Howland, along with some players including Reeves Nelson, conducted a press conference on Tuesday, March 9. The following is a summary of the key points discussed:

• Nelson stated he will play this weekend. He will also participate in every practice. He discussed the matter with his mom with whom he speaks every day. She, in turn, spoke with Dr. Swartz at Jules Stein Eye Institute. Both Reeves and his mom are comfortable that it is safe for Reeves to play. Reeves indicated that he may have some conditioning issues because of the time he has had off. He also indicated that he wanted to play because of the example set by Michael Roll who has been a mentor for him.

• The team got tired last weekend, particularly in the Arizona game. This reflects the injury situation, especially in the front court. It will help a lot to have Nelson because he is the team's only consistent low post scorer. Also, Roll was particularly tired on Saturday against Arizona State as a result of the extensive minutes he has been playing.

• The defensive effort at Arizona was poor. The offensive performance was much better. Kyle Fogg has had the two biggest games of his career against UCLA. The Bruins must always know where Fogg is in the upcoming game on Thursday if they are going to have a chance to contain him.

• UCLA was the only team with two players on the All Pac-10 Freshman team. Nelson and Tyler Honeycutt should be very proud of this achievement.

• Malcolm Lee will likely be an All Pac-10 player in the future. He played a lot of minutes this year and that will help him in the future.

• Right now the team is not looking past the game this Thursday at noon against Arizona. If they win, then they can think about the next game Friday night.