Howland Is in It for the Long Haul

If the theory is correct about needing to hit rock bottom before you can start heading up, then Ben Howland might be there.

The night before the first-year UCLA coach suffered through the indignity of indignities, the end of a 54-year winning streak by the Bruins in Los Angeles against Washington State on Thursday, the team that Howland built at Pittsburgh had beaten up on St. John’s, 71-51, to bring its record to 21-1.

Even worse, the rout of St. John’s by No. 4-ranked Pittsburgh was strikingly similar to the 71-55 beating Howland’s Bruins had taken at the hands of St. John’s last Saturday in New York.

No, Howland is not looking back with regret, but he’s not blind to what he left behind, either.

“I knew this was going to take some time,” he said Friday.

Hard as it might be for UCLA fans to swallow, the talent that perennial low-achiever Washington State brought to Pauley Pavilion possibly was superior to UCLA’s, especially perimeter players Thomas Kelati, Jeff Varem and Marcus Moore, who accounted for 36 of their team’s 55 points and defended aggressively and intelligently.

But if the Cougars’ talent pool is somewhat subtle, that is not the case with the Bruins’ opponent tonight at Pauley, the streaking Washington Huskies of Coach Lorenzo Romar, a former UCLA assistant.

“With Stanford, they are the hottest team in the conference,” Howland said, pointing to the Huskies’ five consecutive victories.

“They have good depth, they are young, they are building for a good future.”

People started to take notice of the Huskies when they recently completed a weekend sweep of the Arizona schools, including a 96-83 upset of then-No. 9 Arizona. The star of that game was Nate Robinson, who scored 31 points. Robinson was held to 10 by USC in Washington’s 93-82 victory at the Sports Arena on Thursday night, but Brandon Roy chipped in with 17 and Will Conroy and Mike Jensen scored 16 each.

The Bruins, getting most of their scoring from Dijon Thompson, Trevor Ariza and T.J. Cummings, will have a different task against Washington.

Whereas Washington State and its veteran coach, Dick Bennett, run a deliberate offense, Washington runs it and guns it. The Huskies began their Southern California weekend ranked second in the Pacific 10 to Stanford in scoring offense and third to Oregon and Arizona in three-point field-goal percentage.

“We know it is a different test,” Howland said. “We walked the team through it today and we have seen them before, so we know what is coming.”

The Bruins, who have lost six games in a row, defeated Washington, 86-84, in overtime on Jan. 10 at Seattle.

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TONIGHT

vs. Washington, 6, Fox Sports Net 2

Site -- Pauley Pavilion.

Radio -- XTRA (690/1150).

Records -- UCLA 9-9, 5-5 in Pacific 10; Washington 10-8, 5-5.

Update -- Bruin guard Brian Morrison, who had worked his way into the starting lineup with hustle and solid defense but then sprained his right ankle late in practice Wednesday and missed the Washington State game, will also sit out against Washington.