Bruins Miss Rush but Defeat Loyola

UCLA continued its lengthy basketball homestand Tuesday night, a six-game run that extends to the start of Pacific 10 Conference play this weekend, but also while one prominent player continued to be homesick.

Freshman JaRon Rush, due back Sunday, still had not reported by Tuesday night when the Bruins beat Loyola Marymount, 92-67, before 10,030 at Pauley Pavilion.

Coach Steve Lavin and several teammates--including sophomore guard Earl Watson, who is also from Kansas City, Mo., and went through a similar phase a year ago--said they have spoken with Rush on the phone and they now expect him back today.

Of course, they also say they expected him back Tuesday.

“We thought he was going to be here tonight,” Rico Hines said after the Bruins won their sixth in a row and improved to 8-2. “Evidently, something came up.”

Said Watson: “He better come back tomorrow. If he keeps lying to me, we’re going to have to have a talk. But he’ll be OK.”

Because, Watson and others say, Rush has called teammates numerous times over the last several days and has not spoken about transferring.

“He would have told me for sure if he wasn’t coming back,” Watson said. “That’s how close we are.”

What Rush has told Watson is he is homesick.

“We’re roommates,” Watson said. “He tells me that all the time.”

A day before, Lavin had sought to downplay Rush’s absence from practices on Sunday evening, the first after the Christmas break, and Monday afternoon by attributing them to a communications mix-up and a missed flight.

Rush was supposed to be back Sunday--but his return ticket to Los Angeles had been inadvertently booked for Monday morning and no one caught the mistake until too late, the coach said.

Then, Rush was supposed to be back Monday in time for practice--but he missed the flight from Kansas City, Lavin said.

Even after the Monday practice, Lavin said Rush was expected back on campus by that evening, having either been led to believe that was the case or hoping it would come to be and that the issue would blow over without continued public dissection.

If that had come true, Rush might only have been benched for the first half against Loyola Marymount.

When it didn’t, and Rush was still a no-show at game time and for the rest of the night, it was obvious this was not a matter of a travel snafu.

Rush, a starter in seven of the nine games, had played only 18 minutes the last contest, against American, and 20 the outing before that, but this did not appear to be a disgruntled player.

He was still averaging 23.6 minutes, second only to Watson at the start of the night.

His absence from the opening lineup--which had been expected at the very least as a penalty for the missed practices--forced Lavin to go with his eighth roup of starters in nine games.

The major benefactor was Travis Reed, who had been pushing for a promotion anyway with his recent play.

Reed was at power forward as Jerome Moiso opened at center in place of Dan Gadzuric and his tendinitis-plagued knees.

Reed finished with 17 points and nine rebounds and Moiso had 21 points and 11 rebounds, both game highs and the first double-double of the season for the Bruins.

But unlike the American game, when Gadzuric was in uniform but stayed on the bench, he played big minutes against Loyola.

Gadzuric entered with 4:14 gone, then played 19 minutes in all, as the Bruins tried to balance the opportunity to get him more rest against the desire to play their freshman center in the name of experience.

“We need to get him more minutes so he’s comfortable and feeling good going into the Arizona game,” Lavin said of Saturday night’s conference opener at Pauley Pavilion. “But at the same time, I don’t want him to overextend his knees.”

Despite the numerous ailments--Matt Barnes was out because of a sprained ankle and knee, Ray Young played despite flu and Brandon Loyd was out because of flu--and the one self-inflicted absence, the Bruins still overwhelmed the Lions.

UCLA trailed, 16-13, before taking control with a 23-7 run.

That came during a stretch when the Lions (4-7) had only one field goal in 8 1/2 minutes.

* RUNNING START: USC heads into Pac-10 play with an 8-1 record after defeating Arkansas State, 64-48. Page 3