Lavin Shrugs Off Latest Controversy

Considering what UCLA Coach Steve Lavin has been through the past few years, the flap over his friendship with Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone and Malone’s commission of a secondary recruiting violation for an unintentional phone call to Bruin recruit Jamal Sampson of Mater Dei ranks low on his list of personal crises.

“It’s all relative to the 10 years I’ve been at UCLA,” Lavin said Thursday. “When you inherit a job a week before the season, that’s a distraction. When your boss [Jim Harrick] is dismissed and you inherit a coaching job without any head coaching experience, that’s a distraction. Or if you start the season without two of your star players [Josiah Johnson and Rico Hines, who are injured]. Or not having a Baron [Davis] because of his ACL.

“As a coach, being a Division I basketball or football coach at a major college level, one key is to be able to keep your team focused practice to practice or game to game and not allow things to distract you. That’s what I’ve learned to do.”

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Senior point guard Earl Watson wasn’t bothered by the splint and tape that protected the torn tendon in his right little finger, scoring 21 points and adding a game-high eight assists.

But he did give his coaches and teammates a scare in the second half, when he made a layup and fell backward to the floor, clutching his left knee. However, he returned 46 seconds later.

“I just cramped up in my calf,” he said. “I never cramped up in my life. I think the plane ride took a lot out of me.”

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As expected, UCLA received letters of intent from Cedric Bozeman of Mater Dei, Dijon Thompson of Redondo Union and Michael Fey of Capital High in Olympia, Wash.

Bozeman is a 6-5 point guard. Thompson, 6-6 and 180, was rated the top shooting guard in the west and the No. 8 small forward in the U.S. by the Sporting News. Fey, a 6-11, 245-pound center, also considered Washington, Oregon and Gonzaga.

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Jason Kapono’s 22 points was his 10th game with 20 or more. His six assists tied a career high, as did his nine three-point attempts and six three-point conversions.

UP NEXT

* vs. Kentucky at Madison Square Garden, 3:30 today, ESPN2: Playing in the consolation game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic tournament, UCLA will try to avoid its first 0-2 start since the 1961-62 season. The Bruins are 2-5 against the Wildcats over the years and have lost the last two meetings: 94-68 in a third-round NCAA tournament game in 1998 and 66-62 in the Great Alaska Shootout in 1998.