Zone Issue Needs Attention

USC probably will probably play some zone defense against UCLA on Wednesday after having success with one in the first meeting. The Bruins’ continuing difficulty with zones was evident in the 73-60 loss to Stanford on Saturday.

“Our attack of the zone the first half was really, really poor,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said after the loss. “As soon as we started to have a couple of shots miss, it sped us up rather than slowed us down.

“You have to play a little slower against zones to be able to make the right reads and penetrate aggressively. We did a much better job in the second half.”

Howland stresses breaking down the zone by penetrating in part because the Bruins are so unsuccessful at shooting one down.

UCLA’s mark of 29% on three-point shots in Pacific 10 Conference games is the worst in the league.

Point guard Cedric Bozeman -- only one for 10 in conference games -- and forward Trevor Ariza, 10 for 45 in Pac-10 games, have been particularly ineffective. Early-season threat Brian Morrison hasn’t regained his touch after being injured, with only two three-pointers in Pac-10 play.

The Bruins’ best three-point percentage in conference games, surprisingly, belongs to forward T.J. Cummings, who doesn’t attempt many threes but has made seven of 15.

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Jon Crispin, the senior guard Howland chose to start the game against Stanford because it was his last Pac-10 home game, is not expected to start against USC.

However, Howland said he plans to start Crispin instead of Ariza against Notre Dame on Saturday in the Bruins’ last home game.

Crispin not only started the game against Stanford, he also started the second half and finished with 28 minutes, four more than Ariza and only one fewer than Bozeman.