UCLA wrap

LOS ANGELES -- UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart spent much of his Christmas week fighting a fairly nasty bout of flu. The good news, he said beneath the stands at Pauley Pavilion, was that nothing he saw on the floor Saturday at No. 5 UCLA made him any sicker. The Bruins are a better team than the Aggies and that really showed. Kevin Love is as impressive as advertised. And, if that was Darren Collison at less-than-full speed (because of a knee brace he will shed Monday), than the Pac-10 will really have its work cut out for it.

I missed Ben Howland's postgame comments -- he was done before I finished my conversations outside the Aggie locker room, and the quote in today's paper included the "told reporters" tag indicate that other people gathered it -- but in the L.A. Times he said he wanted to play UCD because he wanted practice defending an offense like Princeton. They'll see a similar look from No. 4 Washington State, among others. If Stewart wants to add Pac-10 games to the non-conference schedule, it seems as though Howland has made his sales pitch for him. I also opened Page D5 of my Times this morning to see a large picture of Kyle Brucculeri battling Alfred Aboya for a rebound.

I am going to refrain from any real judgements based on this game. Rebounding and offensive execution remain problematic, but I actually thought the Aggies played well defensively until the final five minutes. But we'll see where this is all headed. What isn't good news for UCD is that across town, UC Riverside outrebounded USC and led by 14 at one point before falling 70-57 at the Galen Center. Riverside was the odds-on choice to finish last, but anything that makes the Highlanders a tough match-up isn't good news for the Aggies.