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  Daily Bruin File Photo Dan Gadzuric shoots over Cedric Suitt in a game vs. Pepperdine last season. UCLA faces Team Concept tonight.

By AJ Cadman

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

For the 2000-01 UCLA men’s basketball team, tonight’s exhibition contest against Team Concept at Pauley Pavilion is the Bruin’s first and only chance to dust away the off-season cobwebs before they start playing for real.

UCLA head coach Steve Lavin’s troops open the season at the IKON Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Thursday, Nov. 9 at Madison Square Garden against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Injuries have hindered the Bruins early this preseason.

UCLA will be without the services of senior co-captain Rico Hines, who will undergo arthroscopic surgery today to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee. A bruise from a collision last Friday was not deemed serious on first glance. But an MRI on Monday revealed the tear.

“Because he is a senior, he is so resilient,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. “But like before, he has grown from the adversity and developed a lot of character.”

The guard-forward was scheduled to serve the first of a two-game suspension this evening following a violation of team rules. According to the coaching staff, Hines will miss two games following his clearance to play in four to six weeks.

UCLA took another hit with the absence of freshman forward Josiah Johnson. Johnson suffered a stress fracture in his left foot Friday during practice and is slated to be out of action for four to six weeks.

“Without Josiah, we lose a bit of frontline depth,” Lavin said. “This will mean we will need more minutes from the rotation of Dan (Gadzuric), T.J. (Cummings) and Matt Barnes.”

Tonight marks the debut of the freshman forward Cummings in the Bruin blue and gold. Lavin and the coaching staff have high expectations for him early in the 2000 campaign.

“T.J. Cummings’ play has been very impressive for this early in the season,” said Lavin. “His tenacity, his rebounding and shot blocking, running the floor, and domination in the paint has been as impressive as any freshman in the 10 years I’ve been at UCLA.”

UCLA plans to use the simulated game-like conditions to analyze different looks on both ends of the floor in Bruin attack. The Bruins hope to use tonight’s play to display different looks in preparation for a Kansas frontline with multiple 6-foot-10 post players in the low block.

“We are working now to simulate their break and quick movement in transition,” Lavin said, referring to the Jayhawks’ offense. “They’re obviously well experienced and coached.”

The backcourt should be shuffled for tonight’s exhibition game.

Senior co-captain Earl Watson will start, as usual, for UCLA. But Lavin will be keeping an eye on senior co-captain Ryan Bailey and freshman Ryan Walcott.

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