Fey Remains Central to Success of the Team

It’s like Groundhog Day, only it happens in Westwood more like once a month instead of once a year.

As UCLA prepares for its most important Pacific 10 Conference trip of the year to sixth-place California and third-place Stanford this week, there’s some old news to report.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland wants center Michael Fey to be more aggressive on offense.

Here’s the routine:

Howland says that he needs more scoring from his centers and that Fey in particular needs to become more demanding.

Then Bruin point guard Jordan Farmar agrees that, yes, he needs to be more aware of Fey. Shooting guard Arron Afflalo nods and says he understands how important it is that Fey get more shots.

And Fey, a 7-foot, 270-pound junior whose personality is more sweetness than anger, more acquiescent than demanding, announces that he really, really does want to shoot the ball more and that he really, really is interested in requesting the ball more.

For a game or two the ball goes into Fey. Sometimes he makes his left-handed hook shot. Or he goes right and makes a short baseline jump shot. But too often Fey seems to retreat, unwilling to move forward to meet a pass. If he catches the ball, he resorts to dribbling once or twice instead of using his bulk and strength to dunk or make a layup.

After a bobbled pass or two, a traveling call or certain layup that is blocked, Bruin guards decide to take jump shots instead of sending the ball inside.

Against Arizona on Saturday, Fey had two points in 27 minutes. Backup Lorenzo Mata, a freshman, had another two points. As Howland said Tuesday, “We need more offensive production from our post position. Michael needs to be more demanding.”

Fey ranks second in the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage, having made 69 of 121 shots, 57%. But of the top 10 shooters, Fey has taken the fewest shots. Though he has started 20 of UCLA’s 21 games, Fey has taken only the sixth-most shots on the team.

“Michael’s has 17 shot attempts in the last five games,” Howland said. “Yet he’s [second] in the league in field-goal percentage. For us to be successful we need some kind of inside presence. He has to be a threat to catch the ball and shoot it.”

Farmar said he takes some responsibility for Fey’s disappearance on offense.

“Mike’s good around the basket,” Farmar said.

But Farmar also said he’d like to hear Fey’s voice more often. “He’s been too nice lately,” Farmar said. “Maybe he needs to be a little more selfish.”

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Most of UCLA’s Pac-10 highlight moments have come on the road -- a big win at Oregon after starting the conference season with a lackluster loss at Oregon State; a rousing victory at Arizona State and an intense three-point loss at Arizona; a desperate overtime win at Washington State.

Now the Bruins stand fourth in the Pac-10, a half-game behind Stanford and two games ahead of Cal. The Bears and Cardinal won at Pauley Pavilion last month, and as it becomes time to calculate the odds of making the NCAA tournament, the Bruins could use a road sweep when they play Thursday at Cal and Sunday at Stanford.

Howland said he thought UCLA’s relative road success was a matter of “having less distractions. There are plenty of distractions at home, more than you would think,” Howland said. “Plus, on the road there’s an us-against-the-world attitude.”