4 UCLA Players Break Curfew, Benched Today

Four UCLA players will be benched for the Bruins’ Pac-10 game against Washington today in Seattle because they violated an 11:30 p.m. curfew Friday night at the team’s hotel in Moscow, Ida.

The four are freshman center Greg Foster, sophomore guard Rod Palmer, sophomore forward Charles Rochelin and senior walk-on forward Isaac Hamilton.

None of the four are starters, although Rochelin seemed on the verge of moving out Craig Jackson at power forward for the Washington game, and Foster is playing almost as many minutes as starter Jack Haley.

Hazzard, who did not allow the four players to practice with the team Saturday in Seattle, refused to say specifically why the players were being suspended for the crucial early season conference game. He said only that the four would not play because of disciplinary reasons.

“It was unavoidable,” said Hazzard, who also said his decision had been easy. “I would do it to my own child.”

Apparently, it was learned, none of the four players were in their rooms by the 11:30 p.m. curfew after the Bruins opened the Pac-10 season with a stunning 81-73 loss to Washington State Friday night in Pullman, Wash., which is only seven minutes from Moscow.

The Bruins will have only eight players available to use against Washington: the usual five starters plus backup guard Dave Immel and reserve forwards Trevor Wilson and Kevin Walker, both freshmen.

“That’s all we have to go with, so that’s the way we’ll do it,” Hazzard said.

Despite 38 points by Reggie Miller against Washington State, the Bruins lost their third consecutive game after opening the season with three victories.

“If people went out of town and came back and saw our last three games, they wouldn’t believe we’re the same team,” Miller said.

Last season, the Bruins split with the Huskies, each team winning at home, but UCLA lost by 25 points in Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Friday night, the Huskies (4-4) played for the first time in nine days and lost, 75-55, at Cal State Fullerton. Perhaps showing the effects of its long layoff, Washington committed 24 turnovers.

Washington’s Chris Welp, considered by Hazzard to be the best center in the country, scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds against the Titans before fouling out.

For the second consecutive game, UCLA opens the Pac-10 season for another team, and both games will have been played on the road, which hasn’t made Hazzard’s job any easier. Neither will the loss of four of his key players.

“We need to get in some practice time at home and play a game at home,” Hazzard said. “But really, we just need to win a game.”

Tipoff is 3 p.m., and Channel 2 will televise the game on a tape-delay basis at about 4, after the Chicago-Dallas football game.