By Brian Dohn
Staff Writer
SEATTLE – Trying to inbounds the ball while standing in front of UCLA’s bench with 46.6 seconds remaining, Washington’s Tim Morris was running out of time. So he wound up, jumped and threw the ball off the defender, hoping to get it carom out-of-bounds.
It worked, but only after smashing into the nose of UCLA’s Alfred Aboya.
While several of UCLA’s players said it was part of the physical aspect of the game, UCLA coach Ben Howland took a step further after the fifth-ranked Bruins’ 71-61 loss at Washington.
“It was a very physical game, all the way to the end when they were throwing the ball off our player’s face,’’ Howland said. “He threw the ball off the kid’s face.’’
Is that ok?
“No,’’ Howland said.
Aboya said Morris apologized immediately following the play.
“You never know his intention, if he did it on purpose or whether it was a cheap shot,’’ Aboya said. “But he did apologize.’’
Morris and several players on UCLA’s bench began yelling back and forth.
“I threw it off his face and one of his guys said something to me like, ‘Don’t do that again.’ ‘’Morris said. “I said something back to them.’’
Meanwhile, Howland spoke to the officials about it.
“The official said, ‘There’s nothing I can do.’ ‘’ Howland said. “So I guess you can legally do it.’’
Roll to red-shirt?: UCLA junior wing Michael Roll, who missed the last 11 games after rupturing the plantar fascia in his left foot, said the injury did not respond well to running on a treadmill recently.
Asked if he thought he would play again this season, Roll said, “I don’t think so. (Recovery) is moving slower than we thought.’’
Howland has repeatedly shied away from talking about whether Roll will red-shirt, and Roll opted not to talk about it, either.
“That’s something to talk to coach about,’’ Roll said.
Free throw debacle: A crazy situation developed with 13:11 remaining in the second half when Washington’s Artem Wallace was fouled and went to the free throw line. Wallace, a 22 percent free throw shooter, missed the first free throw of a 1-and-1, but play was then halted. After the officials conversed several times, Washington was awarded the ball on the baseline.
“It was the sixth foul, and they thought it was a 1-and-1,’’ Howland said.
Odds and ends: Kevin Durant, a rookie with Seattle Sonics, stopped by UCLA’s locker room after the game to speak with UCLA freshman Kevin Love. The two know each other from the AAU circuit. …Love’s three points in the first half tied his low for a season in any half.