Ben Ball Game Day Roundup

It was Donny Daniels, a UCLA assistant coach, who first encouraged Lorenzo Mata to develop a left-handed hook, a shot of fundamental beauty and indefensible reliability.

"Coach Danny, when I first came here, he thought I had a tremendous left hand," Mata said this week. "He said I should start using it more. Now I have been using it more, and so far it's difficult to stop."

Since sitting out the second half of a 70-65 loss to West Virginia four games ago, the 6-foot-10 center has made 17 of 21 shots (81%) and averaged 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and nearly two blocked shots a game. And more than that, he has played with confidence, stepping forward to grab passes in traffic and make plays.

His is the kind of energy the second-ranked Bruins (25-3 overall, 14-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference) need as they begin their final conference trip of the year against No. 13 Washington State (23-5, 12-4) in Pullman.

It was late Monday, but the phone rang, and Lorenzo Mata answered it. On the other end was Ryan Hollins, the same guy who, a year ago, went from playing 14, 16, 19 minutes a game to a primary role as UCLA advanced to the NCAA championship game, taking down Belmont and Alabama, Gonzaga, Memphis and LSU along the way.

Hollins scored, defended and rebounded. He also led. And Hollins, in town that night with the Charlotte Bobcats, told Mata he could do the same things.

"He hit me up after the game," Mata said of Hollins. "He was telling me that I can even do better than him."

"He's been playing with a lot of confidence lately, making left-handed jump hooks and right-handed jump hooks, of course he's been improving his free-throw percentage," Afflalo said of Mata, who has hit 21 of his past 28 shots (75 percent) over the past eight games.

"Once we get a consistent inside-outside presence, that's going to take our team to another level," Afflalo said. "That makes it a lot easier for me, personally, a lot easier for Darren and Josh and gives Luc a little more space to operate down there.

"We need that out of him, because he's one of our bigger bodies. He's a great shot blocker so when he's confident and he does everything else, along with rebounding and blocking shots."

Washington State still plays the tough brand of man-to-man defense and ball-control offense the elder-Bennett brought to Pullman.

The one primary difference is the younger (Tony) Bennett gives his players a bit more free rein in shooting earlier in the clock if a quality shot is available. The Cougars are averaging 65.1 points a game on 47.1% shooting (4th, Pac-10)and 37.6% from beyond the arc (4th, Pac-10).

The Cougars lead the conference in scoring defense allowing a stingy 57.9 points a game on 38.3% field goal shooting (1st, Pac-10) as well as just 32.6% on three-pointers (2nd, Pac-10).

Washington State is a distant 8th place in rebounding at 30.1 rebounds a game, but it is by design. The Cougars send three, sometimes four, defenders back on their own shot-attempts in order to stop an opponent's transition game.

The Cougars take extremely good care of the ball. They lead the league in least turnovers a game 9.0 and hold a conference leading 1.57 assist-to-turnover ratio - a ratio better than many collegiate point-guards in the nation.

UCLA has been living off baskets off transition this season, and they will be tough to come by on Thursday against Washington State.