UCLA falls several spots in the polls

A day after its upset loss at home to Texas, UCLA on Monday dropped from second to seventh in the Associated Press poll and from first to eighth in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.

The 63-61 loss, after UCLA trailed by 16 points in the first half, prompted some self-criticism from freshman center Kevin Love, who had only five rebounds and took only six shots while struggling against Texas’ zone defense.

“Five rebounds is unacceptable for me,” he said after the game. “I should have 10 rebounds every game.

“I just think I need to seek the ball out more. There’s a few times we got tripped up a little bit by their defense. Other players took good shots, open shots, so I can’t really say anything today.”

Junior Josh Shipp said it is difficult to make passes to Love in the post when UCLA faces a zone.

“Kevin’s not as open as people think,” Shipp said. “Teams are packing it in with two, three guys on Kevin. The pass isn’t always there.”

Love played only 24 minutes, partly because Coach Ben Howland chose to play senior Lorenzo Mata-Real for defensive purposes at the end of the game. Howland used his final timeout with 2 minutes 23 seconds left, so he didn’t have the option of switching Love and Mata-Real on offensive and defensive possessions.

“I missed a few hedges on defense in the first and second half,” Love said. “On defense, it’s a hard thing to pick up. Right now Coach Howland trusts Lorenzo a little more.”

The lack of timeouts also left the Bruins scrambling after Texas took the lead with eight seconds left. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute took a three-point shot after what Howland described as “a mad scramble at the end.”

While UCLA took an expected drop in the polls, Washington State, without losing a game and even after an impressive comeback win at Baylor, dropped from sixth to eighth in the AP poll.

USC, after losing to Kansas at home, fell to No. 24 in the AP poll and dropped out of the coaches’ poll.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com