• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

UCLA shooting guard Brian Morrison will be sidelined for at least at least two weeks after pulling his left hamstring in Saturday’s 64-58 win over Michigan State. He is expected to miss three games and not return until the Washington State game on Jan. 8, according to coach Ben Howland.

“I don’t even want to think about it right now,” said Morrison, a 6-foot-2 junior. “It just definitely sucks, but we won tonight.”

Morrison was going around a screen in an attempt to contend Chris Hill’s three-pointer when he planted his left foot, pulled his hamstring, and went down near the Michigan State bench with 3:23 left in the second half. Following the game, he left the court on crutches.

Howland told Morrison he would have to receive daily treatment from team doctors in Los Angeles and even on the road at the Michigan game, thereby preventing him from returning home for the holidays. However, Morrison, a Redmond, Wash., native said he plans to go home early to arrange for treatment there.

Morrison is one of the Pacific 10 Conference’s leading three-point shooters, averaging three per contest. Coming off the bench Saturday for the first game this season after T.J. Cummings eligibility, Morrison was 3-for-3 from three-point range and scored 11 points before the injury.

Junior Janou Rubin and senior Jon Crispin will get Morrison’s minutes at shooting guard. With Morrison and junior Ryan Walcott out sustaining injuries, Crispin, who played a few minutes at point guard for the first time Saturday, also figures to see more time there. Walcott re-aggravated his bad back in Friday’s practice after having battled muscle spasms since Tuesday.

JUST SHOOT ME: UCLA was a woeful 16-for-35 from the free-throw line and is now shooting just 59.8 percent on the season.

“That was just really horrible,” Howland said. “If we can just make 65-70 percent of our foul shots, we win this one handily.”

Guard Cedric Bozeman was the most inept of the Bruins, missing on 8 of 9 attempts, including ones in crunch time when Michigan State was forced to foul.

“I don’t think I’ve missed that many in a game ever,” Bozeman said. “It just snowballed. I’ll work through this and not let it happen again.”

Forward Trevor Ariza wasn’t much better, going just 2-for-8.

Then again, this can be called an improvement from the Bruins’ 5-for-23 exhibition performance against the EA Sports All-Stars last month.

CRAZY ABOUT RETRO: The Bruins turned back the clock, wearing replica jerseys similar to those of the 1964 inaugural national championship team under coach John Wooden. The jerseys have “BRUINS” on the front instead of the traditional “UCLA.”

Howland said that since UCLA played in jerseys Saturday and won, he would ask athletic director Dan Guerrero if the team could wear them again for its next home game Jan. 2 against Oregon State.