Aboya goes from hot to cold

Alfred Aboya likes to wear the ice bags. Saturday after UCLA beat Indiana, 54-49, in the second round of the NCAA tournament, a climber with pick and ax could have reached Aboya’s head by climbing the ice.

Ice was wrapped on his knees, his elbows, his stomach. Maybe there was a pack hidden in his shoe, Aboya joked. And, no, Aboya said, he didn’t hurt anywhere. That is just how it is. Aboya is a big man and after he plays, Aboya needs ice.

The 6-foot-8, 233-pound sophomore finds playing basketball exhilarating, and he throws himself into every one of his 19 minutes a game. He understands Coach Ben Howland’s offensive plan and is a sure-handed receiver of passes in the post and an enthusiastic passer himself. He is not selfish about shooting.

He is also an aggressive defender. He will take a hit and give one.

Sometimes he is too aggressive.

Aboya probably will need to play more than the nine foul-plagued minutes he had against Indiana when the second-seeded Bruins play third-seeded Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in San Jose. The Panthers have 7-foot, 270-pound senior Aaron Gray at center, and Gray is the focus of Coach Jamie Dixon’s offense.

Howland loves Aboya and has said for two years that if he could play Aboya at a forward spot instead of center it would be spectacular. Howland also wishes Aboya were more careful about his defensive activity.

“Alfred needs to be smarter about fouling,” Howland has said.

Saturday against Indiana, after UCLA had surrendered most of its 16-point second-half lead, Aboya ran out and slapped the wrist of Indiana forward Lance Stemler.

It is the most forbidden of fruit, fouling a three-point shooter near the end of the game when your team is clinging to a four-point lead. It is apple-in-the-Garden-of-Eden forbidden to commit that foul when you already have four.

But that’s what Aboya did. He fouled out with 1 minute 14 seconds left. As the referee’s whistle blew, Aboya just kept running past Stemler and to the bench. Stemler made his first two free throws, missed the third and Indiana scored on the rebound, tallying in effect a four-point play to tie the score, 49-49.

“That was a bad one by me,” Aboya said. “But I just get wrapped up in the game.”

Aboya committed his first two fouls within 22 seconds of each other early in the first half. He had scored his first and only basket of the game only 22 seconds before he got his fourth foul. That one bothered Aboya.

“I was nowhere near the play,” Aboya said. “Then I hear the official say No. 12 and I look down to make sure I’m still wearing No. 12.”

Aboya has a subtle sense of humor.

“I don’t know what it was,” Aboya said with a straight face Saturday. “The refs let everybody play. Except me.”

He says the funny things with a straight face but will smile when he speaks on serious topics.

For example, one afternoon he talked about one day becoming president of his country, Cameroon. Aboya smiled but he was serious. Aboya and teammate Luc Richard Mbah a Moute are from the West African nation and neither has been home in more than three years.

While Mbah a Moute says he believes his family will come to Atlanta should the Bruins reach the Final Four for a second year in a row, Aboya’s parents can’t afford the trip, he said. So while Aboya might be able to close in on his degree after only three years if he went to summer school, he is planning a trip home this summer.

But that’s for later. Right now he’s planning a strategy for Pittsburgh, one that will need to include care. Aboya and Lorenzo Mata lead the Bruins in fouls committed with 86 each. But Mata has played 765 minutes and Aboya only 550.

“I need to be safer,” Aboya said. “I want to play.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com