Bruins’ Fill-In Post Man Delivered

He didn’t want to do it, was forced into it by the suspension of Jelani McCoy, and still very much would like to wander away from the taller trees and display his subtler, mid-range skills.

But this nine-game run as the Bruins’ only post man has actually been a smashing success for J.R. Henderson and UCLA, despite the welts, winces and bruises the experience has generated.

“Yeah, Jelani does owe me,” Henderson said. “No question about that. Maybe next time I get hit, I’ll go over and hit him, just to make it even.”

Fittingly, in McCoy’s last game under suspension and Henderson’s last game without help inside, the Bruins played late Saturday night at Thomas & Mack Center against Nevada Las Vegas and its muscle-bound freshman, Kaspars Kambala.

Still, the 6-foot-9 Henderson has flourished against the big men, outplaying New Mexico’s All-American candidate Kenny Thomas and flashing skills sure to catch the NBA’s attention along the way.

In UCLA’s first eight games, as the Bruins head toward next Saturday’s conference opener at Arizona, Henderson has banged and scrapped well enough to average a Pacific 10 Conference-best 21.4 points a game and a team-leading 8.9 rebounds.

Last season, Henderson averaged 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds; and he was at 14.4 and 7.0 in his sophomore campaign.

Henderson--who put on about 10 pounds of muscle in the off-season to better push his way to the basket, getting up to about 233--acknowledges that McCoy’s suspension forced him to accept the responsibility of defending the opponents’ best big man and work his entire offensive repertoire on the low post.

And that, concedes the player who has gone through sluggish periods throughout his earlier career, has led to by far the best and most consistent start of his career.

Henderson has led the Bruins in scoring in the last four games, and raised his game in UCLA’s last two tests, scoring 19 points with 10 rebounds against Saint Louis, then scoring 22 with 15 rebounds against Boise State.

That was the first time he put back-to-back games together with double figures in points and rebounds.

“I just stepped up my game, played a little bit harder,” Henderson said. “I just gained confidence knowing what I could do--because I had to do it. I knew I was capable of having those kinds of games all along, it was just a matter of doing it.

“I got the opportunity, I was the guy down there, and I took advantage.”

Now, having McCoy back in the lineup starting with Tuesday’s game at Pauley Pavilion against Illinois, and especially for the conference season, means Henderson can keep scoring--but with help.

Henderson says he won’t have to pull back his game, simply adjust it knowing that McCoy will draw plenty of defensive attention too.

“When he’s in there, it’ll be easier for me,” Henderson said. “I won’t have as many double teams. If I get in trouble, I can just dish it off to him, get more assists that way.

“I probably won’t get as many shots--I’ve been getting like 15 shots, some games 18. I won’t get that. But I don’t need that many. That was just a matter of me being the only one in the post, so I got all the post passes.”

Coach Steve Lavin indicates that Henderson won’t all of a sudden be firing up three-pointers and abandoning the inside game now that McCoy is back. Henderson is too effective and draws too many fouls to situate him anywhere but the post on offense.

“One thing that’s happened is because he’s put on some added weight and his strength, it’s allowed him to be more effective when he does play center, when he does play with his back to the basket,” Lavin said.

“He can draw fouls and still score the basket. And his moves now are more direct, in terms of being right to the iron. I think sometimes before he might double-clutch or bring the ball down and kind of avoid the contact because he wasn’t as strong.

“He tried to finesse them more. And now he’s going right at the finesse players.”

The big-picture answer for Henderson’s rise in play, Lavin says, has been the typical growth of a young player into a senior leader--as UCLA has seen with Ed and Charles O’Bannon and Cameron Dollar before Henderson.

“Since the end of last season to this season, his growth and maturity in the classroom, on the court and as a person has been really exciting to watch,” Lavin said. “It’s like the light comes on, like it did for Charles last year.

“The light seems to have come on for him across the board, in terms of really wanting to get his college degree, in terms of wanting to do special things at the next level. And then in terms of this season, in terms of his leadership and wanting to do something very special with this group of players.”