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Former UCLA player Reeves Nelson filed a lawsuit against Sports Illustrated and reporter George Dohrmann Wednesday and the suit includes declarations from 18 current and former UCLA players who reject various claims made in a March Sports Illustrated article that depicted Nelson as a boorish player with a propensity for violence and out-of-control behavior.

Some, such as Drew Grodon, and Tyler Trapani, were alleged victims of Nelson's violent antics who said Nelson never did to them what the Sports Illustrated story said. Others, such as Blake Arnet and Alex Schrempf, said they spoke with Dohrmann and told him the information he had was incorrect only to see it end up in print anyway.

All of them disagreed with the Sports Illustrated depiction of Nelson as a player who intentionally injured teammates and was coddled by coach Ben Howland, who turned a blind eye to Nelson's transgressions.

"I never saw Nelson intentionally hurt or intentionally try to hurt any member of the UCLA basketball team or staff, nor do I believe that Nelson ever intentionally hurt or tried to hurt any member of the UCLA basketball team or staff," reads a passage in each of the 18 declarations. "I did not observe and do not believe that Coach Howland favored Nelson over the other players in any fashion, not with respect to discipline or anything else."

Some players addressed specific incidents alleged in the article. Gordon, for instance, was reported to have gotten into an off-campus fight with Nelson that resulted in a black eye for Gordon, but Gordon's declaration stated "The article’s description of Nelson’s behavior toward me is false. We have never had a fight, not at a teammate’s apartment or anywhere else, nor has Nelson ever given me a black eye from a fight or otherwise."

The Sports Illustrated story also reported that Schrempf, a former UCLA walk-on, suffered a serious back injury as a result of a Nelson attack during practice. Schrempf's declaration said that never happened. In his declaration, Schrempf acknowledged speaking with Dohrmann but told Dohrmann his facts were wrong.

"During our conversation, Dohrmann specifically told me that he had 'heard' that Nelson intentionally injured me during practice by knocking me to the ground from behind," Schrempf's statement says. "According to Dohrmann’s 'source,' Nelson’s conduct caused me to suffer a serious back injury. I explained to Dohrmann that this version of events was incorrect."

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Ben Howland has pocket aces and might possibly get another on the flop, now he's got to decide how to play the hand.

Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson, two of the top five national recruits, have signed with UCLA along with No. 41 Jordan Adams and No. 26 Tony Parker could very well join them in Westwood next season as UCLA reopens Pauly Pavilion in front of what is sure to be a full house.

With that kind of recruiting class comes pressure to win and it's up to Howland to decide the best course of action.

He could slow play this talented lineup, letting them grow into their own as the season progresses, or he could go all in on his fabulous freshmen, letting them loose from the beginning and trying to ride them to prominence knowing that they could very well be one-and-done players at UCLA.

"We have to have a good plan as to what we're going to put in right away offensively and defensively," Howland said. "We've got to move quickly because the games come so fast."

[CLICK THIS LINK TO HEAR Ben Howland on 710 ESPN radio with Mason & Ireland]

Howland's coaching philosophy has long centered on the team-first mentality. He prefers to have three or four players score in double figures every night instead of having two players with 25 each and that balanced philosophy coupled with his slow-down motion, offense and tough-nosed defensive style tends to hide the explosive offensive talents of star players.

The college statistics of players such as Kevin Love (17.5 points per game) and Russell Westbrook (8.3) don't exactly foreshadow NBA all-star selections. Former national high school player of the year Jrue Holiday is now a starting point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, but didn't make so much as second-team all-conference during his year at UCLA.

His style has proven successful over the long haul, with three consecutive Final Four appearance as evidence, but that doesn't mean Howland is oblivious to the need to use talented players.

"We definitely have to try to take advantage of their abilities," Howland said. "They're going to be great in the open court and hopefully we're going to have the depth where we can play faster and get up and down."

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UCLA's maligned basketball program is back in the national spotlight, but this time it's a good thing.

Coach Ben Howland, his reputation soiled after his program received national exposure for all the wrong reasons, made a startling comeback just a month after his future at UCLA had been called into question.

With one short, declarative sentence, Las Vegas high school senior Shabazz Muhammad changed the fortunes for UCLA basketball and Howland. Muhammad, the No. 2-ranked recruit in the nation, made UCLA relevant once again when he appeared on ESPNU Wednesday and said "I chose to be a Bruin."

And with that, the Bruins, who did not even make the NCAA tournament -- nor the NIT for that matter -- last season, are suddenly a sleeper pick for a national championship run next season. UCLA, its proud basketball tradition waning after missing the NCAAs twice in the past three seasons, once again has something to brag about.

And after a couple of seasons of contemplating how far the mighty had fallen, those around UCLA are now wondering if the bandwagon has any seats left on it.

"I think he’s going to have a tremendous impact," Howland said of how much of a difference-maker Muhammad could be. "He’s a special, special talent and has so many attributes that will help our team."

Muhammad, a 6-foot-6 small forward, is explosive, athletic and can score from anywhere, including beyond the three-point line. He was named the 2012 Naismith Boy’s High School Player of the Year and selected by the McDonald’s All-American committee as the 2012 Morgan Wootten Player of the Year. He also was named the MVP of the 2012 McDonald’s All-American game on March 28 and won the Powerade Jam Fest dunk contest.

But his scoring ability and talent are only half the story of what he brings to UCLA. His character off the court is equal to his ability on it and that is exactly what UCLA needs after Sports Illustrated reported dysfunction in the UCLA program caused mostly by the unscrupulous acts of entitled recruits.

The signing of Muhammad, along with Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams, puts a new face on the way UCLA does things.

"The thing that’s great about Shabazz is he’s a great kid," Howland said. "They have a great family. He’s really, really the total package. An outstanding student athlete. This is a whole new era. What we’ve really try to institute now is a whole new level of accountability for our current team."

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Lazeric Jones was named the MVP for UCLA's basketball team during the team banquet Monday night.

Jones, a senior guard, led the Bruins in scoring (13.5 ppg), assists (4.1 apg), steals (1.8 spg) and in three-point field goals made (48). He was the only player to start all 33 games in the 2011-12 season and was named second-team All Pac-12.

Sophomore guard Tyler Lamb was named the team's outstanding defensive player and guard Norman Powell was named freshman of the year. Powell and sophomore forward Travis Wear were named co-winners of the most improved award and Wear also won the award for team free throw champion after shooting 79.1 percent (68-for-86) on free trows to rank eighth in the Pac-12.

Sophomore forward David Wear also was a two-time winner on the evening, claiming the team rebounding leader award after leading the squad with 202 rebounds and the outstanding team play award.

Junior forward Brendan Lane claimed the Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake Memorial Award for Competitive Spirit, Inspiration and Unselfish Contributions while senior walk-on guard Tyler Trapani earned his second consecutive UCLA Faculty Athletic Representative Award for academic achievement and team contribution.

Complete list of the 2012 UCLA Men's Basketball Awards Banquet Honors:

• Bob "Ace" Calkins Memorial Award/Free Throw Champion
  Travis Wear, So., F
• Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake Memorial Award/Competitive Spirit, Inspiration and Unselfish Contributions
  Brendan Lane, Jr., F
• Bruin Hoopsters J.D. Morgan Memorial Award/Outstanding Team Play
  David Wear, So., F
• UCLA Faculty Athletic Representative Award/Academic Achievement and Team Contribution
  Tyler Trapani, Sr., G
• Seymour Armond Memorial Award/Most Valuable Freshman
  Norman Powell, Fr., G
• Bruin Bench Basketball Award/Most Improvement in All-Around Play and Mental Attitude
  Travis Wear, So., F/Norman Powell, Fr., G
• Irv Pohlmeyer Memorial Award/Outstanding Defensive Player
  Tyler Lamb, So. G
• UCLA Alumni Association Award/Team Assist Leader
  Lazeric Jones, Sr., G
• Gerald A. Finerman Award/Team Rebounding Leader
  David Wear, So., G
• Coach John Wooden Award/Most Valuable Player
  Lazeric Jones, Sr., G

LOS ANGELES -- A difficult and sometimes bizarre season took a disappointing turn for the UCLA basketball team in a game that pretty much summed up the way the season went.

The Bruins lost, 66-58, to Arizona Thursday in a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal that, much like the season, featured UCLA fighting through adversity, looking as if it might turn a corner but could never quite get things rolling in the right direction.

UCLA (19-14) will lament losing the game in a wide-open Pac-12 tournament that was their only possible path to the NCAA tournament, especially after the Bruins' path to the final cleared somewhat with top-seeded Washington's loss earlier in the day, but the inconsistencies that have plagued UCLA all season did so again against Arizona.

The Bruins did not put together a win streak of more than three games in conference play this season and could not put together a stretch of more than five minutes of high-level play Thursday. The Bruins fell into an early hole, climbed back out and made a run, but could not close it out.

"We had our opportunities to win and did not seize the moment," coach Ben Howland said.

The same could be said for UCLA all season. UCLA lost four conference games by three points or fewer and lost four times on the road after taking second-half leads. Those close losses ended up being the difference between making the NCAA tournament and hoping for an NIT invitation.

But so are so many other things.

The Bruins entered this season without two of their top three leading scorers from last year after Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt left school to enter the NBA draft. UCLA lost the third member of that group when Reeves Nelson was kicked off the team seven games in. The fourth-leading scorer, Joshua Smith, reported for the season grossly out of shape and was hardly a factor most of the season.

The rest of the Bruins tried to keep things together, but simply never built any momentum.

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LOS ANGELES -- If UCLA keeps playing this way, coach Ben Howland might want to commission an investigative reporter to unearth sordid details about his program every week of the season.

In what has been easily the most difficult week of an unusually difficult season, the Bruins played their best basketball in the wake of a rippling Sports Illustrated report that exposed some dirty little secrets. UCLA capped the regular-season with a 75-69 comeback victory over first-place Washington on Saturday in the Bruins’ final game at the Sports Arena.

It followed a resounding 78-46 victory over Washington State that was the largest margin of victory by any Cougars’ opponent this season and was the second-largest margin of victory by UCLA. The Bruins played their best back-to-back games in the same week that Sports Illustrated reported mass dysfunction in the UCLA program over the past three or four years.

A pair of victories in a weak Pac-12 Conference certainly doesn’t put UCLA back among the nation’s elite, but the resolve the team showed this week in the face of such adversity makes it clear that UCLA is not a program in a shambles.

“It speaks to how together our team is and how together we’ve been all year,” guard Jerime Anderson said. “Regardless of what anybody thinks outside, we’re very close and we love our coach and respect him and have his back totally, 100 percent.”

The Bruins (18-13, 11-7 Pac-12) have been close most of the season. They lost five games by three points or fewer this season, including four in Pac-12 play. A few more made free throws here, a defensive stop there and the Bruins would be sitting atop the Pac-12 standings as had been projected in the preseason.

But the Bruins were unable to close out those games. They held second-half leads at Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Arizona and lost them all. Saturday, they reversed that trend with a defensive onslaught that limited Washington to only 22 points in the second half. That was a season-low for a half by the Huskies, who were averaging 79.4 points per game.

Team defense takes togetherness and for UCLA to display that type of team camaraderie this week against the top team in the conference says a great deal about the character of the Bruins.

“Kids are very resilient and I think the adversity of this week probably brought us closer together,” Howland said. “I was really proud of our team.”

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LOS ANGELES -- Until this week's Sports Illustrated hit newsstands, close losses on the road had defined UCLA's basketball season.

The Bruins (17-13, 10-7) have lost five times by three points or fewer and they get a second chance at one of those teams when they face Washington in the regular season finale Saturday at 11 a.m. PT at the Sports Arena. And not only that, but the Bruins have a chance to keep first-place Washington (21-8, 14-3) from sole possession of the Pac-12 title.

"I've lost to Washington every time I've played them so I definitely want to get a win on them," sophomore guard Tyler Lamb said.

The Bruins led, 65-55, with six minutes to play when the teams faced off a month ago in Seattle, but managed only two more baskets in a 71-69 loss. The Bruins have had similar fates in losses at Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona and St. John's. The Bruins had second-half leads in all of those games but couldn't hold on down the stretch. And at Stanford, the Bruins never led, but lost by two.

The Bruins have lost five conference games by a total of 18 points. If the Bruins had won those, the Pac-12 title would be on the line Saturday. If they had won just two of those, they'd be in the running for a top-four spot in the conference and a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament. Instead, the Bruins have very little on the line Saturday. They can finish fifth, sixth or seventh, but will have to play the opening round of the conference tournament against USC, Utah or Arizona State.

"It's disappointing," forward David Wear said. "At the same time we just have to prepare and move on and get ready for the tournament. Right now we're just trying to improve our seeding and get the highest seeding we possibly can to put ourselves in a better situation."

It's difficult to say what has kept the Bruins from closing out those close games down the stretch. Certainly free-throw shooting has been an issue. But so has fatigue. The Bruins are playing an eight-man rotation for the most part and Lamb, Lazeric Jones and Jerime Anderson are all averaging over 31 minutes.

"There are a number of factors, but we just didn't finish the game," Wear said.

One thing the Bruins are sure to finish Saturday is their run at the Sports Arena. UCLA has been using the venue as its home court while Pauley Pavilion receives a renovation and while the Bruins have had some success at the arena, going 9-4 there so far, they won't necessarily be sad to leave it.

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UCLA let a lead slip away late in the game yet again, losing to Arizona, 65-63, Saturday in a Pac-12 game at McKale Center in Tucson. It was UCLA's fourth conference loss by three points or fewer--all of those coming on the road--and the fourth time in conference play the Bruins have lost a game in which they held a second-half lead.

A quick look at the game:

OVERVIEW: It was a back-and-forth battle throughout with 14 lead changes and seven ties, but things seemed to be going UCLA's way when Tyler Lamb hit a desperation 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to give the Bruins a 50-46 lead with 6:28 to play.

At that point, Arizona had made only five field goals in the second half and looked clueless against UCLA;s defense, but the Wildcats scored on eight consecutive possessions to take a 60-55 lead. The Bruins forced 15 turnovers and limited Arizona to 37.5% shooting for the game, but got only two turnovers in the final 10:53 and Arizona was six-of-six from the field over the final 7:10.

Arizona let UCLA stay in the game by making only two of six free throws in the final 30 seconds while Joshua Smith and Jerime Anderson combined to make four of four from the line in the final 12 seconds. Arizona's Kyle Fogg gave the Wildcats a 65-63 lead by making one of two free throws with 7.8 seconds to play, but UCLA, without a timeout, couldn't get off a clean shot and Anderson missed a potential game-tying jump shot at the buzzer.

Anderson matched his career high with 20 points, but didn't get much offensive help from his backcourt mates as Lazeric Jones and Tyler Lamb combined to make only five of 23 shots (21.7 percent). Travis Wear added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins (16-13, 9-7 Pac-12).

Kyle Fogg had 20 points, 16 in the second half, to lead Arizona (21-9, 12-5).

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When UCLA visits Arizona on Saturday, the game won't carry conference title implications as meetings between the Pac-12's powerhouse teams often have over the past two decades, but that doesn't mean it's a meaningless game.

Arizona (20-9, 11-5) and UCLA (16-12, 9-6) are among the five teams battling for a top-four seeding in the Pac-12 tournament and the loser of the game Saturday at 11 a.m. at the McKale Center might be on the outside looking in when it comes to a coveted first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.

"It’s very important," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Obviously we’re coming down the stretch here with only three games left in the regular season so it’s important for our potential mathematically to still have a chance to be a team that gets a bye in the first round. It’s important to try to get as high a seed as possible in the tournament and obviously we want to win."

Oregon (10-5 Pac-12), Colorado (10-5) and Stanford (9-7) are also among those fighting for those spots. California (13-3) has already secured a top-four spot and Washington (12-3) is one win away from dong the same. Any team finishing outside the top four would have to win four games in four days to win the Pac-12 tournament and earn the automatic NCAA berth that comes with it. No team has ever gone 4-0 in a Pac-10 tournament.

In other words, UCLA's chances of making the NCAA tournament may very well rest in the outcome of Saturday's game.

"If you just look at the percentages, the likelihood that someone is going to win four games in four days is very, very difficult," Howland said.

The Bruins defeated Arizona, 65-58, Jan. 5 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, but Arizona is a different team in February. The Wildcats finished January at 5-4 in conference play, but have won six of seven games in February, including a difficult sweep of Stanford and California on the road.

"They are improving," Howland said. "When they went to the Bay Area trip and swept that trip it really gave them some momentum and they’ve been playing very well."

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UCLA completed a season sweep over Arizona State with a 66-57 Pac-12 victory Thursday in Tempe, Ariz. Here's a quick look at the game:

OVERVIEW: UCLA started slow but took the lead midway through the first half and never trailed again, but it wasn't easy to hold off the pesky Sun Devils.

Every time it appeared as if the Bruins had seized some momentum and were about to blow open a big lead, the Sun Devils rallied and kept within striking distance. The Bruins took a six-point lead late in the first half, but it dwindled to 25-24 by halftime.

UCLA had a 46-37 lead with 11:31 to play, but Arizona state rallied back to make it 47-43 a minute and a half later. Even down the stretch, when UCLA finally put the game away by opening a 66-49 lead with 2:25 to play, Arizona State made a run and really could have made things interesting if a couple of 3-point shots had fallen.

Still, the Bruins did what they needed to in winning on the road against one of the Pac-12's lower-tier teams. Lazeric Jones had 20 points to lead UCLA (16-12, 9-6 Pac-12) and David Wear added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins.

Jonathan Gilling led Arizona State (8-20, 4-12) with 17 points and Trent Lockett added 13 points despite making only 3-of-11 shots.

TURNING POINT: After struggling to make a game-clinching run for most of the game, the Bruins finally took control with a 17-4 run that turned a 49-45 lead with 8:42 left to play into a 66-49 lead with 2:25 left.

The Bruins held Arizona State to 1-of-7 shooting during that stretch while connecting on eight of nine shots of their own. Jones and Wear each scored five points during the run, including a 3-pointer by Jones that gave UCLA 56-46 lead for the first double-digit lead of the game with 7:10 to play.

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LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA basketball team hasn't yet given up hope.

The Bruins are disappointed about where they stand going into the final two weeks of the regular season and know that winning the Pac-12 regular season title would require a minor miracle at this point, but they still feel that all is not lost.

The Bruins (15-12, 8-6 Pac-12) were picked to win the Pac-12 this season, but in order to do that would need to win all four of their remaining games and have both California (22-6, 12-3) and Washington (19-8, 12-3) lose their three remaining games while Colorado (18-8, 10-4) would have to lose at least twice and Oregon (19-8, 10-5) and Arizona (19-9, 10-5) would have to lose at least once each.

A minor miracle indeed, but hope comes in the form of the Pac-12 tournament that looms after the regular season finishes. Win that and UCLA would go to the NCAA tournament.

"It’s pretty deflating, but the season is not over yet," guard Tyler Lamb said. "As a team, I think we underachieved this year. I don’t think anybody would disagree, but the season is still going. We still have to get some wins. We can’t look back and dwell on the past right now because we’re still in season."

With elimination from the Pac-12 race almost inevitable, the Bruins must now focus on finishing among the top four in the conference in order to secure a coveted top-four spot in the Pac-12 tournament. The top for teams receive a bye in the opening-round, everyone else would have to win four games in four days in order to take the tournament title and that has never been done.

"We know we have to dig deep now and try to get some wins before the Pac-12 tournament and come out and play our hearts out in that tournament and see what happens," forward Travis Wear said. "[Coach Ben Howland] gave us the statistics of how many teams have won four days in a row and it’s not very good, so we know we have to try to get a top seed."

That road begins Thursday night on the road. The Bruins play at Arizona State at 5:30 p.m. Pacific to kick off a string of four must-win games. The road has not been kind to UCLA, which is 2-6 in true road games this season and 2-8 away from home against Division I teams.

But Arizona State is as good a team as any to help get the ball rolling. The Sun Devils (8-19, 4-11) have lost five of their last six games and have yet to defeat a Pac-12 team with a winning conference record. They scored eight points in the first half Saturday against Washington State and are 3-10 since dismissing leading scorer Keala King from the team in January.

Trent Lockett is the team's current leader with 13.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and Carrick Felix is the only other player averaging in double figures scoring with 10.1. But even though Arizona State is in the midst of it second consecutive 19-loss season, the Bruins know they can't afford to take them lightly. Last year, the Sun Devils took UCLA to overtime in Tempe.

"To be honest, we can’t overlook them," UCLA guard Lazeric Jones said. "The last time we were there, they took us down to the wire. That’s something I’ve been thinking about. They play really good at home and regardless of what their record is—last year they didn’t have a great record and still came out and gave us a hell of a game."

When the teams met Jan. 7 at the Honda Center, it wasn't much of a contest. Joshua Smith and Travis Wear dominated the inside against Arizona State's zone defense as UCLA posted a 75-58 rout. The Bruins could certainly use another game like that as they try to build some momentum for the Pac-12 tournament.

"All our games are important leading up to the Pac-12 tournament just with seeding and trying to get at least fourth place to get at least a fourth round bye," Smith said. "That’s all we can really go for. You never know what's going to happen, but it our position right now, we only have two weeks is not enough time to jump up to the top two or anything like that so we’re going to try and win the rest of our games and see what happens. There’s still the Pac-12 tournament. I mean, our season is not over so we still have something to look forward to."

UCLA's road woes continued Saturday when the Bruins lost, 66-63, to St. John's in a nonconference game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Bruins (15-12) fell to 2-6 in road games and have only one win against a Division I team outside of Southern California. St. John's improved to 11-16.

OVERVIEW:the game was close throughout as neither team led by more than six points, but every time UCLA tied or took the lead, St. John's made a run. The Red Storm took the lead for good on an alley-oop dunk by Sir'Dominic Pointer that broke a 45-45 tie midway through the second half.

The Bruins were within a point twice over the rest of the half and were within two with 45 seconds to play, but Phil Greene tipped in a missed 3-point shot by Pointer for a 66-62 St. John's lead with six seconds to play.

The Red Storm inexplicably fouled on the next possession, giving the Bruins some hope and Jerime Anderson made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 66-63. St. John's forward Moe Harkless grabbed the rebound on Anderson's miss and was immediately fouled. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but David Wear's three-quarter court shot at the final buzzer missed.

D'Angelo Harrison had 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead St. John's.

TURNING POINT: With St. John's holding a 54-53 lead and 8:00 left to play, Pointer threw down a dunk and after a quick UCLA miss, Harkless grabbed a rebound and made a nice pass inside to Greene for an easy layup and a 58-53 lead with 7:35 to play.

UCLA called a timeout to stop the momentum, but committed turnovers on it's next two possessions and never really recovered. The Bruins made only two of their final 14 shots form the field as they seemed to run out of gas playing against the quicker, more athletic Red Storm.

UCLA STAR OF THE GAME: Forward Travis Wear had a double-double for the second consecutive game with 11 points and 13 rebounds. He kept the Bruins close down the stretch with six points in the final 3:17, including two on offensive rebound putbacks.

Guard Tyler Lamb also had a good game with a team-best 18 points with six rebounds and four assists, but he also had eight turnovers, twice stepping out of bounds with the ball and other times trying to force passes.

STAT OF THE GAME: St. John's had 19 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points, using speed and quickness to continually beat the bigger, slower Bruins to loose balls and long rebounds.

The Bruins had a major size advantage with the Wear twins and Joshua Smith each at 6-10 and the Red Storm featuring only one player at 6-8, but the Bruins still only held a 40-39 edge in total rebounds and simply could not box out the smaller players on St. John's misses.

St. John's shot only 36.9 percent from the field, but the Red Storm, a 67.8-percent free throw shooting team for the season, made 14 of 16 free throws.


WHAT IT MEANS: Not much. The nonconference game wasn't going to make or break UCLA's season, but the continued inability to pull out close games on the road could prove troublesome as the Bruins head on a two-game Pac-12 trip to Arizona State and Arizona next week.

The Bruins are hoping to secure one of the valuable top-four seeds in the Pac-12 tournament, but currently sit in sixth place and can ill afford another conference loss if they want to having to win four games in four days to earn an NCAA tournament berth.

On the long plane ride from Los Angeles to New York, UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland was preparing for his team's game Saturday against St. John's at Madison Square Garden so he watched game film from the Bruins' 66-59 victory over the Red Storm from last season.

He might have been better off taking a nap.

St. John's bears little resemblance to the team UCLA faced a year ago at Pauley Pavilion, with no players on the current roster having played in that game and coach Steve Lavin taking a limited role as he recovers from prostate cancer.

The Red Storm, because of player graduations and defections, will run out a starting lineup of five freshman for the 10 a.m. PT tipoff and use a junior college transfer as their only significant bench player. Last year's Red Storm squad finished 21-12 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a roster that included 10 seniors, but the lone returning player from that team -- guard Malik Stith -- quit the team last week for personal reasons.

The Red Storm (10-16, 4-10 Big East) have lost nine of their last 11 games, including four in a row, but Howland says he isn't taking the team lightly.

"They are really playing hard," Howland said. "Some of their freshmen have been incredible. These kids are very talented. They are young, but they are very talented."

Leading the way for St. John's are D'Angelo Harrison, a 6-foot-3 guard, and Moe Harkless, a 6-8 forward. Harrison is averaging 16.7 points to lead all Big East freshmen and Harkless is averaging 15.9 points and 8.5 rebounds -- second among Big East freshmen in scoring and first in rebounding.

Harkless is the tallest player on the team, so the smaller, quicker Red Storm will present a matchup problem for the Bruins, who have four regulars at 6-10.

"They are a very dangerous, long, athletic team," Howland said. "They’re pressing back to their zone. Their zone is very aggressive with a lot of ball pressure. It's a hard matchup for us because they play small."

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LOS ANGELES -- UCLA completed a season sweep of crosstown rival USC with a 64-54 Pac-12 victory Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The Bruins (15-11, 8-6 Pac-12) took control early in the game and then held off a late rally by USC (6-21, 1-13) to hand the Trojans their fifth consecutive loss and 14th in the last 15 games. It was UCLA's third consecutive victory over the Trojans and the Bruins improved to 44-20 all time against USC at the Sports Arena.

"It was good to sweep the Trojans," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "That’s always a good thing for us. Believe me, I was worried sick to my gut about this game playing right here in their back yard in what used to be their facility."

The Trojans are playing with a roster that includes only six active scholarship players as they have lost five to season-ending injuries since last summer. Howland came away impressed that the Trojans fought back Wednesday after being down by as many as 23 midway through the second half and cutting the lead to 10 with 1:34 to play.

"They’ve been through about as rough a year as you can have with all the adversity and injuries so I give Kevin [O'Neill] and his staff a lot of credit for keeping those kids to where they’re down here at the very end of the season fighting like it’s the beginning of the year," Howland said.

Five observations from the game:

1The Wear twins had USC seeing double

Twins David and Travis Wear had their best combined game as Bruins with a total of 30 points and 24 rebounds between them. They each had a double-double marking the first time in their college careers that has happened.

The 6-foot-10 twins had a distinct size advantage against USC, which doesn't play anybody taller than 6-7, but they also had motivation after each played poorly Saturday against Cal, when they combined to shoot 5-for-19 from the field and had 14 points and eight rebounds.

"I was especially hard on myself because of how I played," said David Wear, who had 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. "I only had one rebound, I think, and that’s unacceptable. I really used that as motivation coming into Monday and Tuesday. I knew that to turn it around I was going to have to play harder and come with a different mindset."

The Wears scored 14 of UCLA's final 15 points, continuing to play hard as USC was trying to get back in the game. Howland said he was pleased to see his sophomore transfers from North Carolina respond to their poor performance from the previous game.

"They came out with a sense of purpose and direction to play tougher, play more physical and go hard to the offensive glass," Howland said. "We need that form both of them as we go forward down the stretch."

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LOS ANGELES -- Just when the Sports Arena was starting to finally feel like home, this game comes around.

UCLA will play USC Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m at the Sports Arena and the Bruins will be the home team even though the Trojans will be able to walk to the arena and the Bruins must take a bus across town.

Such is the life for UCLA this season as the Bruins have played all of their games off campus while Pauley Pavilion undergoes a renovation, but this us the first time they'll play a home game so close to their opponent's campus

"All of our games haven’t really felt like home games so this isn’t really anything new," center Joshua Smith said. "People have said that they will have a lot of fans there being that it is on their campus, but it doesn’t matter. We’re just going to go out there and play."

When UCLA first announced that it would use the Sports Arena as it's home venue this season, one of the the biggest concerns was it's proximity to USC. The arena is not technically part of USC's campus, but it's adjacent. The Trojans used the venue as their home court from 1959-2006 before moving into the Galen Center just down the street.

UCLA has done a nice job UCLA-ifying the place, with blue uplighting, blue signage, blue paint, a UCLA logo on the court and national championship banners hung from the rafters, but there is nothing they can do about the location of the venue so it will be interesting to see which team draws more fans.

"I’m not concerned at all," guard Tyler Lamb said. "We’re not playing to see how many fans go to the game, we’re playing to win. That’s the main thing. We are playing on SC’s campus, but I still feel like it’s a home game for us. We’ve been playing there all year and we’ve adjusted to it pretty well. I think we’re still going to get great fan support."

The Bruins (14-11, 7-6 Pac-12) haven't drawn particularly well at the Sports Arena, with an average of 5,510 in their 11 games there. The only saving grace is that USC (6-20, 1-12) isn't much of a draw either. The Trojans are averaging a conference-low 4,108 for home games, so the Bruins might not have to be too worried about the crowd being pro-USC.

But then again, this rivalry does tend to bring the fans out of the woodwork. The last time the teams met, there were 8,474 at the Galen Center--the biggest USC home crowd this season by more than 2,000.

"I really do want to see if we’re going to have more fans than them," guard Lazeric Jones said. "I’m sure we’ll get more of our fans out there. Hopefully I don’t have to go out and recruit fans."

The Bruins will be heavy favorites. Injury-plagued USC is enduring one of the worst seasons in school history with four key players out for the season. When UCLA played USC on Jan. 15, the Bruins won easily, 66-47, and that was before the Trojans lost starting forwards Aaron Fuller and Dewayne Dedmon.

Fuller (10.6 points, 5.9 rebounds) was the team's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder. Dedmon (7.6 points, 5.5 rebounds) was fourth in scoring and second in rebounding. The Trojans have lost 13 of their last 14 games and haven't scored more than 50 points in three consecutive games.

Still, the Bruins can ill-afford to take anyone lightly, let alone the crosstown rival.

"The bottom line is if USC beats us tomorrow, that will really be a feather in their cap with everything they’ve gone through," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "We know they’re going to come out and play really hard and play really tough."