Adam’s Ribs

Adam Morrison’s hair flops, and his lips flap.

He talks to the man guarding him, to the officials, even to himself.

He scowls and he yells and he flings his arms at the Gonzaga crowd, telling them to yell louder. Sometimes, he bangs the ball on his own head.

As UCLA is about to find out at the Oakland Regional on Thursday in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, there’s more to Morrison than the quick-release three-pointers and slashing drives that have made him the nation’s leading scorer at 28.2 points a game.

He also might lead the nation in getting under other players’ skin, even if it’s as much to get his own game going as to knock another guy off his.

Glenn Williams, Morrison’s coach at Spokane’s Mead High, called him “a tough cuss,” and added, “I say that admiringly.”

Xavier Coach Sean Miller called Morrison “nasty,” and said it was a compliment after watching him take over the game and bring Gonzaga back from nine points down in the first round.

“As you know, I’m a pretty emotional player,” said Morrison, who was fighting a flu-like illness early this week but is expected to play. “I feed off what other people say to me and what other people do, and that’s kind of what gets me going.”

Sean Mallon has seen Morrison from both benches, as a Gonzaga teammate and as a high school opponent.

“Off the court, he’s a little more mellow,” Mallon said of Morrison, who often displays a wry but rather contrary wit.

“He’s a very competitive guy,” Mallon said. “I think that’s what makes him a good player. He’s not mean, he just does whatever he can to get an advantage. People don’t realize, off the court, he’s a different guy.”

Count San Diego’s Corey Belser, Xavier’s Stanley Burrell and Justin Cage and Indiana’s Roderick Wilmont as players who might not be so sure.

Belser is often credited with doing the best defensive job on Morrison this season, holding him to 11 points in a February game.

“He’s always saying to me, ‘Welcome to Spokane. We get the calls,’ ” Belser told reporters after Morrison scored 24 against him in a West Coast Conference tournament semifinal on Gonzaga’s home court.

“He says some personal things. The last game when we lost to them, he told me if I got hit by a train and died he wouldn’t care. Tonight, he was like, ‘You’re a role player. Did your family come to watch you play your last game?’ ”

Morrison denied the train remark but says he has a policy -- “What’s said on the floor stays on the floor” -- about repeating what’s said during games.

As for Belser, Morrison basically said, “Scoreboard,” pointing to three Gonzaga victories.

Xavier’s Burrell said Morrison apologized for some of what he said on the court.

“I mean, he’s a great player. He made some great plays down the stretch,” Burrell said after Xavier’s loss. “But the things he was saying to [Justin] Cage and me were just ridiculous.”

Indiana’s Wilmont -- who tangled with Morrison in an exchange that drew offsetting technicals -- said it wasn’t a matter of words.

“He really didn’t say nothing. He just elbowed me for no reason under the rim ... a cheap elbow,” Wilmont said. “Whatever he said was pretty much to himself. That’s just how he plays. Whatever it takes for him to do what he does.”

Gonzaga assistant Billy Grier has joked that Morrison, a diabetic, turns ornery when his blood sugar is out of whack, but he noted that the offsetting technical in the Indiana game was Morrison’s first of the season.

“He’s a really intelligent player. He knows where the line is, and he never goes over it,” Grier said.

In a season when Morrison has been double- and even triple-teamed, he simmers but doesn’t boil over.

“Guys are just beating [on] him,” Grier said. “He uses all that to kind of fire himself up, take his game to another level. The thing about that kid, the bigger the game, the better he plays.”

UCLA Coach Ben Howland sees what the other coaches do.

“You know, I think he’s really tough mentally,” Howland said. “He’s a great competitor, and that’s part of how he gets himself going, he feeds off his emotions. Great players do that oftentimes.”

The assignment to guard Morrison won’t fall to a single player, Howland said.

Guard Arron Afflalo, at 6 feet 5, figures to be one of them, and another who could help match the 6-8 Morrison’s combination of height and ability to play on the perimeter is 6-6 Cedric Bozeman.

“Whether it’s [Luc Richard Mbah a Moute], Arron, Ced or [Michael] Roll, it’s a tough matchup for any one person, it’s got to be team defense,” Howland said.

Other than San Diego’s Belser, who is 6-6, the most effective players this season against Morrison have been Memphis freshman Shawne Williams -- at 6-9, he helped hold Morrison scoreless the final 9 1/2 minutes despite a 34-point performance in one of Gonzaga’s three losses -- and Oklahoma State’s Marcus Dove.

“I’d say Oklahoma State as a team, and Marcus Dove is 6-9 and long,” Morrison said.

Howland didn’t act concerned about on-court conversation.

“We don’t like our players to talk smack,” Howland said. “Talking smack is not permitted by NCAA rules. The officials will take care of it.”

Defending Morrison might be a job easier talked about than accomplished.

“Corey Belser, we said, did a good job on him; he held him to 24 their last game,” Howland said. “What did Michigan State hold him to? Let’s see, Michigan State held him to 43. Against UConn, they did a good job, they held him to 18. Washington held him to 43. So you just go on and on. You look at the numbers, Oklahoma State did a good job and held him to 25. Memphis held him to 34.

“Not really anybody has had much success. They’re 29-3. As long as the team wins ... “

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Lighting his fire

A look at Adam Morrison’s top scoring games this season:

*--* 44 Feb. 18 at LMU W 79-70 43 Dec. 4 at Washington L 99-95 43 Nov. 22 vs. Michigan St. W 109-106 42 Jan. 28 vs. Portland W 81-64 41 Jan. 23 at USF W 84-75 35 March 16 vs. Xavier W 79-75 34 Feb. 27 vs. USF W 75-72 34 Feb. 11 vs. Stanford W 80-76 34 Jan. 10 at Santa Clara W 81-68 34 Dec. 27 at Memphis L 83-72 34 Nov. 30 vs. Portland St. W 89-80 33 Feb. 13 at Portland W 97-83

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