CATHERINE JAYIN JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
forward Matt Barnes has seen his offensive game
flounder during the Bruins’ last seven games.
Barnes cooling off
Junior forward Matt Barnes is claiming his level of play
isn’t dropping, but the numbers suggest otherwise.
During a five-game stretch between Jan. 10 and 24, Barnes looked
like a Pac 10 Player of the Year candidate, averaging 24.0 points
in 35.4 minutes per game. He shot 56.0 percent from the floor and
hit half of his three-point attempts. In that span, he took 15
shots per game.
But in the seven games since, Barnes has scored only 10.3 points
per contest. In those games, he has shot only 42.2 percent from the
field and he’s down to 30.4 minutes per game.
“I’ve been in foul trouble and I’m not getting
the minutes,” Barnes said.
“I’m not really shooting that much,” added
Barnes, who has attempted only 9.1 shots per contest in the
Bruins’ last seven games. “But when I shoot, they go
in.”
Arizona State didn’t agree with the latter part of
Barnes’ statement and guarded him accordingly in last
Saturday’s Sun Devil win.
“We knew he was struggling with his shot, so we just made
sure he didn’t penetrate on us,” ASU head coach Rob
Evans.
Barnes said he plans to do nothing differently on the offensive
end when the Bruins go up to the Bay Area this week.
“I just need to not force the issue,” he said.
“When I got hot (in January), I didn’t force
anything.”
Gadzuric sparked by John Hoffart
Although he was only on the court for three minutes against
Oregon in Eugene on Jan. 31, sophomore backup center John
Hoffart’s play left a lasting impression on senior Dan
Gadzuric.
“He used a little pivot,” Gadzuric said of Hoffart,
who scored three points during his short appearance against the
Ducks. “I liked that. I said, “˜Hey, let me try
that.'”
Following Hoffart’s example and making better use of his
feet, Gadzuric has been able to secure better position under the
basket and take advantage of his physical strength.
In the five games since the Oregon contest, Gadzuric has
averaged 14.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Take out his
substandard effort against Villanova, in which he had five points
and three rebounds, and he’s at 17.0 points and 9.3 boards
per contest in that span.
“John Hoffart really sparked me,” Gadzuric said.
“He helped me visualize what I wanted to do.”
No TV for UCLA-Cal
Thursday’s scrap between UCLA and Cal won’t be seen
by those outside of Haas Pavilion. Fox Sports Net selected
Stanford-USC to be its Pac-10 game of the night and didn’t
want to split the market by putting UCLA-Cal on one of its other
channels.
UCLA drops in polls
Following its loss to Arizona State Saturday, the Bruins dropped
to No. 25 in the Associated Press poll and fell completely out of
the ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls’ Top 25.
Compiled by Dylan Hernandez, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.