Morrison Suffers Sprained Ankle

Tonight’s Washington State game that UCLA Coach Ben Howland has been calling “dangerous” became more so Wednesday afternoon, when Brian Morrison sprained an ankle.

Morrison, placed in the starting lineup by Howland on Tuesday in an attempt to shore up the Bruin defense, took a shot and came down on teammate Janou Rubin’s foot about 10 minutes before the end of practice, spraining his right ankle and rendering his services doubtful for the Washington State game and the Washington game Saturday night.

The turn of events put Dijon Thompson, the Bruins’ leading scorer, back in the starting lineup.

In the past, this sort of misfortune would have been perfectly timed, since the Cougars are the upcoming opponent. UCLA has a 38-0 record against Washington State at Pauley Pavilion, and the Cougars always have provided a nice time for UCLA to heal. But it might not be that simple this time.

UCLA defeated the Cougars, 48-45, when the teams met Jan. 8 in Spokane, but that seems like a long time ago now. Back then, the Bruins were in the midst of a 5-0 start in the Pacific 10 Conference, completing a road sweep of the Washington schools.

Now they’re enduring a five-game losing streak and their confidence is shaken by a loss to a St. John’s team that had won only four games.

Washington State is playing its best basketball in what has been a wild up-and-down first season in the defensive scheme of new Coach Dick Bennett, who used the same system to take Wisconsin to the 2000 Final Four.

The lows include a nine-point first half in a 46-29 loss to Fresno State in December and a 38-point loss to Gonzaga.

The highs include victories over California, USC and Arizona State and the scare the Cougars threw into Arizona in a 61-57 loss, a game in which Marcus Moore scored 29 points.

Bennett, who will be back on the bench after missing the Arizona game because he was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, said those kinds of swings are part of the nature of a turnaround job.

“If you’d asked me about a week ago, I’d have said we were behind pace,” he said. “Then we had a decent week and I thought, well, we’re about where we should be. This club has the capacity to surprise and disappoint.

“Teams that are on the mend usually come together some and then fall apart some. We’ve managed to do both.”

UCLA ought to be able to identify.

The Bruins’ recent trouble is no mystery. The losing streak started against two very good teams, Arizona and Stanford, and continued against two talented teams in a road game at Cal and at home against USC.

The results weren’t as stunning as some of the statistics, but then things really unraveled against St. John’s.

The players say they are trying to keep from getting pulled under by the losing streak.

“If you get down at this point in the season, it’s just going to hurt you even more,” forward T.J. Cummings said.

Howland is pointing to rebounding and defense because the Bruins have been outrebounded by an average of eight a game during the losing streak, after being outrebounded only twice all season beforehand.

The other teams’ shooting percentages tell the tale too, with opponents shooting 46% during the streak. Arizona and USC made more than 50% of their shots.

During the five-game winning streak to open the Pac-10, by contrast, opponents’ shooting percentages ranged from 35% to 43%.

There’s more trouble too. The Bruins have had difficulty scoring against zones for five consecutive games, and although Washington State didn’t take that approach in the first meeting, Howland expects to see a 1-3-1 zone tonight.

Howland sent a not-so-subtle message to his team this week: The Bruins who rebound and play defense are going to play.

“We’re going to make mistakes on offense. Those I can live with,” he said. “But when we’re making mistakes defensively because we’re not playing as hard as we’re supposed to or we’re not attentive to what we’ve walked through and gone through in practice, those are things I have a hard time dealing with, and therefore we’ll make changes based on that.”

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TONIGHT

vs. Washington State, 7:30

Site: Pauley Pavilion.

Radio: XTRA (690/1150).

Records: UCLA 9-8, 5-4 in Pacific 10; Washington State 9-10, 3-6.

Update: The Bruins are trying to end a five-game losing streak that started against high-caliber teams Arizona and Stanford but hit its low point with a 71-55 loss to St. John’s.