USC basketball: Nikola Vucevic expects UCLA fans to chide him for his playing ‘like women’ comment

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After practice Tuesday night, USC junior forward Nikola Vucevic stood outside the Trojans’ locker room and answered questions from reporters in person for the first time since he last did that in Arizona on Saturday.

If you remember, he got in a bit of hot water for the comments he made then, after USC’s 82-73 loss to Arizona in Tucson.

If you don’t remember, no worries.

This is the Internet, where everything lasts forever, so to refresh your memory, here’s what he said:

‘I felt like we played like women,’ Vucevic said. ‘We didn’t play hard at all. Every single one of us just played like women.’

Vucevic, who leads USC in scoring (16.0 points a game), the Pacific 10 Conference in rebounding (10.0) this season and also has a league-high 12 double-doubles, apologized the next day for his comments, saying he didn’t mean to offend anyone, and that his comments were just lost in translation (great movie, by the way).

“It was kind of a mistranslation. I didn’t try to offend anyone,’ he reiterated again Tuesday night. ‘I was just trying to say we didn’t play that hard. When you say that at home in Montenegro it means you didn’t play hard, but it doesn’t offend women. But here’s different, and I didn’t know that and I apologize for it.’

Vucevic largely learned English when he came to Simi Valley Stoneridge Prep in October 2007, but he often admits that he struggles with common English jargon and translating common Serbian phrases into English.

But apologies aside, Vucevic’ comments still drew some unwanted attention (see here, here, here, here) and while it has slowed down, it hasn’t stopped, as indicated by how USC senior guard Donte Smith ribbed Vucevic on Tuesday night when Smith walked into USC’s locker room.

‘We played like women!’ Smith said playfully in Vucevic’s direction as Vucevic was answering a reporter’s question.

Vucevic laughed, but was obviously embarrassed. His teammates have been on him quite a bit about that comment ever since he made it.

‘They just laugh about it and ask me why I said that,’ Vucevic said. ‘I say, ‘I don’t know. I don’t think.’ ‘

Does he expect to hear about it from UCLA fans during Wednesday night’s rivalry rematch at Pauley Pavilion?

‘I think I will, but I like this,’ he said. ‘I like when the other fans boo me. It makes me play harder.’

-- Baxter Holmes