Rush Overcomes Flight Fright

JaRon Rush boarded the plane Saturday evening and flew with the rest of the Bruins from Louisville, Ky., to Los Angeles.

This was noteworthy because of what happened about two days earlier, when he didn’t fly with the rest of the Bruins to Louisville.

He made it as far as Memphis, Tenn., but the heavy turbulence that the entire traveling party found difficult turned Rush into such an emotional wreck that the women sitting in the neighboring seat switched with Earl Watson, who tried with little success to comfort his shaken teammate.

When the plane landed in Memphis, Rush refused to take the connecting flight from Memphis to Louisville.

“I just thought something bad was going to happen,” the freshman forward recalled. “The coaches tried to convince me [to continue with the team], but I was not going to get on that plane. Baron [Davis] came over, but there was nothing they could do. I was not going to get on that plane.”

The alternative: go the final 375 miles by car.

One of the Bruin administrative assistants, Doug Erickson, drove. Two others, Jamie Angeli and Darren Sorenson, road along with Rush and Sheila Gardette, the director of academic services.

Come Saturday afternoon, Rush made four of nine shots and contributed nine rebounds, eight points and three steals to the 82-70 victory over Louisville.

“I think he still had the jitters,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “He was real frightened. It [skipping the connection] was not one of those things that was even debatable. It’s like someone who has a fear of heights or something. We weren’t going to force him.”

Getting Rush home after the game, all the way to Los Angeles, would have been a much greater predicament if he still wasn’t ready to fly.

But he said it was just a frightening moment, not a long-term worry, and returned with the team.

Coming up: at Washington State on Thursday, at Washington on Sunday.