Hines Becomes Talk of the Team

Sure, Rico Hines talks. Constantly. On the floor, on the sidelines, in practice, the UCLA freshman swingman is an unabashed motor mouth.

But trash talk? Not even close.

When he races over to his teammates, arms flying, knees banging into everything, Hines likes to get really close and shout four of the rarest words of 1990s basketball:

“I love you, man.”

Or, sometimes, after a teammate’s missed field-goal try, an almost extinct one-liner: “Nice shot--keep shooting.”

And, as UCLA prepares for Friday’s first-round NCAA South Regional matchup against Miami, with that sincere, unstoppable wave of positive energy, Hines has moved from no role to the Bruins’ most crucial--and only consistent--reserve.

He is 6 feet 3 and much more of a hustler than a flier or a scorer. But on a team of thoroughbreds, Hines sets the screens, bumps through the traffic, gets the defensive deflections and dishes out the praise.

You tell a tall guy you love him, the positive vibes have to flow.

“Most guys are afraid to give people compliments,” senior guard Toby Bailey said. “They get jealous--not on our team, but just in general. Either they’re jealous or they want to be the ones scoring.

“It’s refreshing to have somebody who isn’t afraid to say, ‘Good shot, man.’ ‘Good pass.’ It gives you confidence.”

Since the resignation of center Jelani McCoy on Feb. 15, Hines has become UCLA’s first reserve.

After getting almost no playing time in the first three months of the season, Hines has averaged 18 minutes in the last six games and currently is the sixth part of Coach Steve Lavin’s six-man rotation.

“I’m always in somebody’s face,” Hines said, “and the main thing I tell them is, ‘I love you.’ I mean, when you tell one of the players that, a lot of those players have never heard that [in a game] from someone before.

“When you tell them that, they’re like, ‘Hey, this guy’s got confidence in me.’ Confidence is a crazy thing. I’m always on the court, just yelling, ‘I’ve got confidence in you! I’m going to set a pick for you!’ ”

Not surprisingly, players such as Bailey, J.R. Henderson and Kris Johnson enjoy the words--and more to the heart of things, the picks.

“That’s what this team needs,” said Hines, who has never taken more than five shots in a game. “We have a lot of scorers. They need someone to just go out there and do all the little things, you know what I mean?

“Setting picks, letting different guys get open . . . swinging the ball when it needs to be swung, diving on the floor, taking charges. . . . Those are the little things.”

Lavin has kept freshman big man Travis Reed to limited minutes, even after McCoy’s departure. And he rarely gives shooters Billy Knight and Brandon Loyd more than cameo appearances.

But he has been bringing in Hines earlier and earlier with each game--usually far earlier than he brought in McCoy in the 15 games McCoy came off the bench before his resignation.

And though Hines--with his freshman teammates beaming proudly--made two key three-pointers in UCLA’s Feb. 14 victory over California (McCoy’s final game), he has earned his spot with blue-collar work.

“One of the reasons we’ve decided to play him more, he’s somebody after every practice you say, ‘I’ve got to get more minutes for Rico,’ because he plays so hard, he plays with unbelievable intensity and enthusiasm,” Lavin said. “He sets good screens. He just does a lot of the dirty work that a lot of players don’t appreciate.”

Said Henderson: “When I think of Rico, I think of energy. He gets us going with defense and talking. . . . I can’t wait until he gets onto the floor because I know we’re going to get some energy from him.”

Part of what makes Hines unique, Lavin says, is what he endured last season, which should have been his real freshman season.

Because one of his core courses at St. John’s Prospect Hall (in Frederick, Md.)--where he played with former Bruin Cameron Dollar--did not pass NCAA Clearinghouse muster, Hines attended Hargrave Military Academy in North Carolina last year while he worked toward eligibility.

Coincidentally, UCLA discovered Hines only after heavily recruiting Hines’ St. John’s teammate, Nate James, who ended up committing to Duke.

Hines’ eligibility was restored last spring, and he began attending classes at UCLA in the final quarter of the academic year, even though home is Greenville, N.C.

“Last year was the worst year of my life because that was one of the main reasons why I came here was to play with [Dollar, in his last season at UCLA],” Hines said. “We’re sort of the same, like always talking and wanting to win.

“He told me everything’s going to be all right, go back and get your grades, and I’ll be there for you [for support]. And he has been.

“There were a lot of times I was lying in bed at Hargrave, just thinking to myself, ‘I can’t do it.’ ”

Then, once Hines finally started this season as a 19-year-old freshman (he turned 20 on Feb. 17), he had to watch from the bench. After he got major minutes in the first three games--because of Kris Johnson’s and McCoy’s suspensions--he had a slew of 0-minute games.

“Cameron Dollar was a big help,” said Hines, who says he speaks to Dollar, now a coach at UC Irvine, about twice a month. “He kept telling me to keep my hopes up, you’re going to be out there. You have a good work ethic.

“He told me Coach Lavin was going to come around and he’s going to give me a chance. And when you get your chance, just step up.”

FRIDAY’S GAME

South Regional at Atlanta

* UCLA vs. MIAMI

* Time: 7:10 p.m.

* TV: Channel 2