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Nothing has come easily for UCLA this season, and maybe that’s why the Bruins were so reluctant to take the simple route in explaining Saturday’s loss to Washington. Rather than point to all the ice bags and crutches on the bench, they dissected rebounds and field goal percentages.

The Bruins certainly weren’t seeking any pity for their growing handicaps. Still, they could certainly use a helping hand, so I’ll do my part to chip in and make the obvious excuse for them.

Teams can only absorb so many injuries before their execution also gets hurt. For UCLA, the absence of Cedric Bozeman, Josh Shipp, Lorenzo Mata and now Alfred Aboya is a giant compound fracture, one that doesn’t require an MRI to see the damaging results.

In Westwood these days, sprained ankles hardly qualify as setbacks. Freshmen are seeing minutes they normally wouldn’t for at least another year or so. It’s gotten to the point where even the seniors are playing.

Yet despite all these ready-made excuses, there were only passing references to a roster more depleted than Michael Moore’s buffet table.

“It wasn’t so much the injuries,” sophomore guard Arron Afflalo said about the loss. “The injuries weren’t affecting us when we were up 17.”

The thing about injuries though is that they catch up to you. Whether the Bruins led by 17 or 27, they would still have to contend with the nagging health factor. Playing a seven-man rotation simply doesn’t allow for the same breathing room that a nine-man rotation does, even if a coach manages each players’ minutes well.

It’s little surprise then that the Bruins have struggled so much in the second-half of their last two contests. Against Washington State on Thursday, the Bruins almost gave away a 17-point lead in their first conference battle without Shipp. When things got tight, they were missing a proven scorer and it almost cost them.

Against the Huskies, the Bruins did throw away a 17-point lead in their first Pac-10 match-up without Mata. When things started to slip away, they were missing a solid rebounder, and it did cost them.

It wasn’t just the boards where UCLA lost its edge after halftime. The Bruins were a step slow defensively as the Huskies knifed through the lane. Offensively, they seemed complacent to stand around and watch a teammate go one-on-one. From the stands, they looked like a tired team needing a spark off a bench. Unfortunately, that bench was dressed in street clothes.

All the signs pointed to a squad that didn’t have the depth to sustain a high level of play for 40 minutes. Yet “worn down” wasn’t a phrase that crossed the Bruins’ minds, regardless of how acceptable the explanation would have been.

“I don’t know about that,” coach Ben Howland said when I asked him whether fatigue was a factor against the Huskies. “The bottom line is we have to play better defense.”

It’s a lot easier to play better defense with a fresh line-up though.

Howland knows this of course, and my guess is that he doesn’t want to just start recycling the same excuse game after game.

From here on out, the Bruins could legitimately blame a sluggish offensive performance on Shipp’s aching hip. They could attribute any rebounding weaknesses to Mata’s broken leg.

But with each of the injured Bruins out for the long haul, such excuses wouldn’t offer any hope as the season progresses.

Saturday’s line-up is one the team will have to make do with for the remainder of the year, assuming no one dislocates a finger on a slam dunk or pulls a stomach muscle doing sit-ups.

If things break right, UCLA can still win the Pac-10 title. That, needless to say, hinges on no other Bruins breaking apart.

E-mail Finley at

afinley@media.ucla.edu if your heart was broken after Saturday’s game.