Now It Gets Tough for Bruins

UCLA is 4-0. The last time the Bruins started a season 5-0 was a decade ago when they began 6-0 and finished with a national championship. But don’t let the excitement get out of hand. Yet.

Among those first six victims in 1994 were Kentucky, Louisiana State and North Carolina State. The Bruins’ first four opponents this year, Chicago State, Western Illinois, UC Irvine and Long Beach State, have combined for a 4-11 record and were a combined 32-83 last season.

It will be different today.

The Bruins will face undefeated Boston College (4-0) in the second game of the Wooden Classic at the Pond.

A win would prove something. The Eagles under Coach Al Skinner have played in the NCAA tournament four straight years. They have a strong inside game. They feature three Southern California-area players who longed to be recruited by Pacific 10 Conference schools and who want to prove something.

“This will be our toughest game for sure,” freshman guard Arron Afflalo said last Tuesday after UCLA had reversed a three-point second-half deficit to beat Long Beach State. “But this is why we came to UCLA.”

Today’s game is a chance for the young Bruins to begin a major growth spurt. After Boston College, UCLA will play host to Pepperdine (which owns an upset over Wisconsin) and Michigan, then will travel to nationally ranked Michigan State, then on to Oregon State and Oregon to begin Pac-10 play. Coach Ben Howland says these Bruins are better than the team that started last season 9-3 and 5-0 in the conference.

“We’ll learn a lot from this,” said Jordan Farmar, the other freshman in UCLA’s backcourt.

“We beat the teams we should have beaten,” Afflalo said. “Now we need to prove we can beat some other teams.”

Farmar and another UCLA freshman, center Lorenzo Mata, played on the same AAU team as Eagle sophomore Jared Dudley of San Diego Horizon High. Boston College’s leading scorer, 6-foot-7, 250-pound junior forward Craig Smith of Los Angeles Fairfax, told Boston newspapers he was disappointed UCLA had never recruited him.

Howland, who will be coaching his 300th collegiate game, said he hoped Smith didn’t hold that against him. “I would have figured out a place for him,” Howland said.

If Howland has a constant concern about UCLA, it is about rebounding. UC Irvine and Long Beach State beat the Bruins on the boards. Part of the problem, Howland said, was that these smaller opponents have drawn 7-footers Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins away from the basket.

“That won’t be a problem [today],” Howland said. “I expect both of them to have better rebounding totals. We should kind of know where we are after [today].”

Howland also said he would like to play 6-8 redshirt sophomore Matt McKinney more minutes.

McKinney, who is averaging 12 minutes and four rebounds a game, has been struggling with his endurance.

“He’s had some physical issues,” Howland said. “He can’t go more than four minutes without getting exhausted.”

Howland said UCLA was investigating possible medical reasons for McKinney’s problem.

*

UCLA

vs.

BOSTON COLLEGE

Site -- Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

Radio -- KLAC (570).

Records -- Eagles 4-0, Bruins 4-0.

Update -- Boston College, making its first appearance in the Wooden Classic, is led by three Southern California players. One of them, sophomore Sean Marshall of Rialto Eisenhower, was the winner of the 2002-03 CIF Southern Section Division I John R. Wooden Award. Junior forward Craig Smith of Los Angeles Fairfax is on the 2004-05 Wooden Award Preseason All-American team and sophomore Jared Dudley of San Diego Horizon is leading the Eagles in rebounding, averaging eight.

Tickets -- (213) 480-3232.