Watson Takes the Blame

He made only five of 15 shots in UCLA’s just-completed Bay Area swing, but Earl Watson delivered one big shot afterward.

“Because of me,” the sophomore guard said, “we lost both games this weekend.”

Watson was being too hard on himself because there was more than enough blame for everyone, except Baron Davis and, to an extent, JaRon Rush, whose impressive rebounding continues even as his offense remains a problem. But there was no denying Watson’s struggles.

Even while being praised by Coach Steve Lavin for being one of the Bruins to at least play hard in Saturday’s 85-67 loss to California, Watson’s shooting touch disappeared after he had made 51.6% of his attempts the previous five games. He had seven assists and seven turnovers.

“Being a team leader I can’t put anything on the freshman,” Watson said of the Bruins’ failure to show much energy after Thursday’s loss to Stanford. “It’s their first time here. That’s something that I adjusted real well to last year, finding a way to help when I wasn’t scoring. But when I don’t score this year, I have to be able to find other things to do to contribute, and I didn’t do that this weekend.”

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It hasn’t been determined if freshman forward Jerome Moiso will play Wednesday against USC, but Lavin said, “He’s probably out.”

Moiso, bothered by sore arches, is hopeful that sitting out Saturday’s game and then having at least two days off from practice will allow him to play. Coming up: Wednesday versus USC at Pauley Pavilion, Sunday versus Syracuse.