McCoy to Make Season Debut

UCLA gets taller and feistier tonight against Illinois with the return of center Jelani McCoy from a nine-game suspension.

“I’m going to try to go out there and not get too excited,” McCoy said Monday. “I know what the expectations are, and I just want to step up to the challenge.”

McCoy probably won’t break into the starting lineup for several games, but he has been practicing since Dec. 1 and gives the Bruins their only major shot-blocker and another inside offensive threat besides J.R. Henderson.

“He brings a lot of things to this team that we’ve been anxiously awaiting,” Coach Steve Lavin said.

*

Henderson, in his final game without McCoy, scored 13 points and had 14 rebounds in Saturday’s victory over Nevada Las Vegas, giving him the conference lead in scoring (a 20.4 average) and rebounding (9.4).

Freshman guard Earl Watson leads the Pacific 10 in steals, averaging 3.33.

TONIGHT

vs. Illinois

* 7:30 p.m.

* Fox Sports West 2

Site--Pauley Pavilion.

Radio--AM 1150.

Records--No. 9 Bruins 8-1, Illini 8-4.

Update--Though the big matchup against Arizona is Saturday, the Bruins do not have to search to find motivation for this one. Last December the Illini handed UCLA one of its most excruciating regular-season defeats, 79-63, dropping the Bruins to 3-3 and causing some bickering among teammates. “It was a terrible game,” McCoy said. “Everybody was dejected, had their heads down, talking to each other. . . . This is definitely a game to show we’re not that team that we were last year. We’re a lot more focused, a lot more mature.”