An Early Tipoff His Mood Is Light

Kris Johnson and Brandon Loyd wandered down from their hotel rooms dressed in their game jerseys, ready to greet their sleepy teammates at Saturday’s traditional pregame meal.

“Don’t we have a game today?” Johnson said when he walked into the room, earning a collective guffaw.

Of course, because of a quirk in the schedule, UCLA, which beat Washington State on Thursday night and traveled to Seattle on Friday, did not play Saturday.

Which meant this was the perfect chance, Johnson said, to play the clown and get the Bruins chuckling.

“It’s gloomy outside, and I just thought it was time to get a laugh,” Johnson said. “I haven’t got a laugh like that out of the guys in a while.”

The Bruins had an extra day off to prepare for Washington today, which Coach Steve Lavin was trying to maximize by scheduling no practices on either off-day.

J.R. Henderson is battling a sore right knee and a cold, Baron Davis has a cold and Earl Watson is recovering from being knocked cold in the Washington State game.

“No question, the day of rest is something everybody was looking forward to,” said Lavin, who set up a voluntary shoot-around Saturday. “Couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Watson continues to report no adverse affects from the head injury, and will start today, Lavin said.

And about Johnson and Loyd’s entrance on Saturday?

“Kris,” Henderson said, “is always the life of the party.”

TODAY

at Washington

* 11 a.m.

* Channel 2

Site--Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Radio--XTRA (690)

Records--18th-ranked Bruins 21-6, 11-4 in Pacific 10 Conference play; Huskies 16-9, 9-7.

Update--With Washington having two 7-footers (Todd MacCulloch and Patrick Femerling), Jelani McCoy’s resignation is particularly harmful to UCLA. Lavin said the heat is on the Huskies, who only recently ended a swoon that made an NCAA berth an iffy proposition. “[This] really is kind of unique, because this time of year, all the pressure is usually on UCLA,” Lavin said. The Bruins are 5-3 on the road in conference, and the average margin of victory in those five games is only five points.