Daily Bruin File Photo Dan Gadzuric
shoots over Cedric Suitt in a game vs. Pepperdine
last season. UCLA faces Team Concept tonight.
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For the 2000-01 UCLA men’s basketball team,
tonight’s exhibition contest against Team Concept at Pauley
Pavilion is the Bruin’s first and only chance to dust away
the off-season cobwebs before they start playing for real.
UCLA head coach Steve Lavin’s troops open the season at
the IKON Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Thursday, Nov. 9 at Madison
Square Garden against the Kansas Jayhawks.
Injuries have hindered the Bruins early this preseason.
UCLA will be without the services of senior co-captain Rico
Hines, who will undergo arthroscopic surgery today to repair a torn
lateral meniscus in his right knee. A bruise from a collision last
Friday was not deemed serious on first glance. But an MRI on Monday
revealed the tear.
“Because he is a senior, he is so resilient,” UCLA
head coach Steve Lavin said. “But like before, he has grown
from the adversity and developed a lot of character.”
The guard-forward was scheduled to serve the first of a two-game
suspension this evening following a violation of team rules.
According to the coaching staff, Hines will miss two games
following his clearance to play in four to six weeks.
UCLA took another hit with the absence of freshman forward
Josiah Johnson. Johnson suffered a stress fracture in his left foot
Friday during practice and is slated to be out of action for four
to six weeks.
“Without Josiah, we lose a bit of frontline depth,”
Lavin said. “This will mean we will need more minutes from
the rotation of Dan (Gadzuric), T.J. (Cummings) and Matt
Barnes.”
Tonight marks the debut of the freshman forward Cummings in the
Bruin blue and gold. Lavin and the coaching staff have high
expectations for him early in the 2000 campaign.
“T.J. Cummings’ play has been very impressive for
this early in the season,” said Lavin. “His tenacity,
his rebounding and shot blocking, running the floor, and domination
in the paint has been as impressive as any freshman in the 10 years
I’ve been at UCLA.”
UCLA plans to use the simulated game-like conditions to analyze
different looks on both ends of the floor in Bruin attack. The
Bruins hope to use tonight’s play to display different looks
in preparation for a Kansas frontline with multiple 6-foot-10 post
players in the low block.
“We are working now to simulate their break and quick
movement in transition,” Lavin said, referring to the
Jayhawks’ offense. “They’re obviously well
experienced and coached.”
The backcourt should be shuffled for tonight’s exhibition
game.
Senior co-captain Earl Watson will start, as usual, for UCLA.
But Lavin will be keeping an eye on senior co-captain Ryan Bailey
and freshman Ryan Walcott.