Joshua Smith

UCLA Coach Ben Howland is hoping to see center Joshua Smith take a tip -- or two -- from former Bruin Kevin Love. Love reshaped his body before his one season at UCLA. He is in even better condition since being drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves after the 2007-08 season. Smith, who is 6 feet 10 and weighs more than 300 pounds, has admitted that he needs to be in better shape. “Kevin spoke with Josh this [past] summer and they spent some time together,” Howland said.

UCLA couldn't get its last high-profile basketball player to eat less. The Bruins are trying to get their latest freshman star to eat more. Forward Shabazz Muhammad sat out practice Tuesday and said he was still feeling the effects of the flu that slowed him last week. Muhammad practiced Friday and Saturday but said, “It has really been hard. I just have to make sure I'm eating right and staying healthy.” Muhammad had a chest X-ray on Monday and was to undergo blood tests Tuesday, “just to make sure there is nothing beyond the normal.” The big concern, Howland said, was nutrition.

Joshua Smith graced the cover of the UCLA basketball game program Wednesday night, an awkward bit of timing considering that the talented but overweight junior center quit the Bruins' team earlier in the day, citing "personal reasons. " Smith's decision, announced several hours before the Bruins faced Cal State Northridge, made him the second player to leave the Bruins this week. Guard Tyler Lamb announced Sunday he would transfer. The Bruins then rolled over the Matadors, 82-56, playing up-tempo on offense and zone on defense at Pauley Pavilion.

It's nearly midnight on a rainy Wednesday, and Ben Howland is sitting in the only part of new Pauley Pavilion that is not spacious and sparkling. The coaches' locker room. That's right, in the only place in this basketball palace that Howland can hide, he can barely fit, with six coaches crammed into a dressing space the size of a large closet. It's an appropriate metaphor that is not lost on a UCLA basketball boss whose once stern expression has been softened into a perpetual look of weariness.

Reeves Nelson, UCLA's leading scorer and rebounder a year ago, didn't play a minute in the second half and Joshua Smith, the Bruins' third-leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer a year ago, played four of the final 20. It is perhaps less noteworthy that UCLA lost to Texas, 69-59, Saturday at the Sports Arena than that junior forward Nelson spent most of the game on the bench laughing and pointing at people in the season-high crowd of 6,177...

Joshua Smith crashed through the lane and jumped . . . yes, jumped . . . to tip in a rebound. He then sprinted . . . yes, sprinted . . . to get back on defense. Back on offense, he posted up and spun quickly . . . yes, quickly . . . for a layup. As UCLA prepares for the 2012-13 basketball season, there are several weighty topics to discuss: The four incoming freshman who comprise one of the nation's best recruiting classes . . . a trip to China for three exhibition games in August . . . and, of course, renovated Pauley Pavilion, which reopens in November.

UCLA junior center Joshua Smith has quit the Bruins basketball team, the school announced Wednesday, thus ending his up-and-down career in Westwood that has been plagued by weight and conditioning issues.  “I have made the decision to leave the program for personal reasons,” Smith said in a statement. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at UCLA and am grateful for the opportunity that has been presented to me here.” Smith has been...

The big man has a message for everyone who doubts him. Two simple words for fans who call him soggy around the middle and too slow down the court. A succinct reply to detractors who insist that he has squandered his God-given talent - and hurt his team - by habitually eating his way out of shape. Joshua Smith nods his head: "They're right. " And UCLA's center, a lightning rod for criticism over the past two years, realizes the skeptics will not be easily swayed. Not by the fact that he returned from summer vacation incrementally slimmer.

Reporting from Lahaina, Hawaii -- Changes in defensive schemes and player rotations may not be enough. For UCLA to put a season already adrift back on course, the Bruins might need a renewed commitment from a few wayward players. "They've got some guys that I think need to really take a look at themselves and decide whether they're in this for the long haul or not, and I don't say that lightly because a number of those guys are," ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas said after watching the Bruins lose two of three games in the Maui Invitational, with the victory coming against Division II Chaminade.

It's nearly midnight on a rainy Wednesday, and Ben Howland is sitting in the only part of new Pauley Pavilion that is not spacious and sparkling. The coaches' locker room. That's right, in the only place in this basketball palace that Howland can hide, he can barely fit, with six coaches crammed into a dressing space the size of a large closet. It's an appropriate metaphor that is not lost on a UCLA basketball boss whose once stern expression has been softened into a perpetual look of weariness.

First, a word from UCLA Coach Ben Howland on the departure of junior center Joshua Smith: "We're going to work extremely hard with the group that we have," Howland said Wednesday after his team beat Cal State Northridge, 82-56. "I'm going to coach my tail off to help this team reach its potential. Our biggest obstacle is the health issue, staying healthy with a limited number of players. " Another issue for UCLA is zone defense, which is not exactly Howland's specialty. In fact, Howland all but despises the scheme.

UCLA junior center Joshua Smith has quit the Bruins basketball team, the school announced Wednesday, thus ending his up-and-down career in Westwood that has been plagued by weight and conditioning issues.  “I have made the decision to leave the program for personal reasons,” Smith said in a statement. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at UCLA and am grateful for the opportunity that has been presented to me here.” Smith has been...

Joshua Smith graced the cover of the UCLA basketball game program Wednesday night, an awkward bit of timing considering that the talented but overweight junior center quit the Bruins' team earlier in the day, citing "personal reasons. " Smith's decision, announced several hours before the Bruins faced Cal State Northridge, made him the second player to leave the Bruins this week. Guard Tyler Lamb announced Sunday he would transfer. The Bruins then rolled over the Matadors, 82-56, playing up-tempo on offense and zone on defense at Pauley Pavilion.

The big man has a message for everyone who doubts him. Two simple words for fans who call him soggy around the middle and too slow down the court. A succinct reply to detractors who insist that he has squandered his God-given talent - and hurt his team - by habitually eating his way out of shape. Joshua Smith nods his head: "They're right. " And UCLA's center, a lightning rod for criticism over the past two years, realizes the skeptics will not be easily swayed. Not by the fact that he returned from summer vacation incrementally slimmer.

SHANGHAI -- It took Jordan Adams just a few minutes to sweep away the bad memories. The freshman guard is supposed to be one of the best shooters on the UCLA basketball team but looked jittery and off-target last weekend at the start of the Bruins' three-game exhibition swing through China. "My first college game wasn't so good," he said. "I didn't want to have another bad one. " On Monday night, Adams turned things around in a hurry, scoring 11 of his team's first 13 points and propelling UCLA to a 72-31 victory against Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

BEIJING -- With the first game of their weeklong visit to China still 24 hours away, the UCLA basketball team spent Friday going through a different sort of practice. Tourists packed the lane at the Great Wall, clustering around the players as they hiked a steep section of the world-famous landmark. Things got physical at a downtown restaurant known for its Peking duck. A large group from an adjacent table grabbed center Joshua Smith and pulled him to the front of the dining room, where he posed for one photograph after another.

There was a roll call, a familiar voice over the public address system and even the fan with blue hair heckling opponents when they shot free throws. Good thing UCLA also remembered to pack Joshua Smith and Reeves Nelson for the start of its season-long show. The interior duo helped the Bruins overcome a mostly ragged performance during an 80-72 exhibition victory over Cal State San Bernardino on Sunday at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. Smith's 26 points and seven rebounds were complemented by Nelson's 16 points, 10 rebounds and one commandment to his teammates.

Addition by subtraction. That was the argument being tossed around when UCLA dismissed volatile forward Reeves Nelson on Dec. 9 — that it lost a good player but was better off for it. It might be too early to know if that equation is accurate, but these numbers don't lie: The Bruins have added three consecutive wins to their record and evened it at 5-5 since Nelson left, the latest an 82-39 demolition of UC Davis before 5,132 at...

BEIJING — It was no mean feat for Joshua Smith to fit his sizable 6-foot-10 frame into an economy-class seat for the 6,300-mile flight to China. At least the airline put him in the front row of his compartment, so the UCLA center could stretch his white-stockinged feet toward the bathroom door. "It's all right," he said. "They gave me some room. " Of all the challenges UCLA might face on the court during a series of exhibition games here, travel ranks near the top. This trip represents a trial run, the start of what could be an annual exchange between the Pac-12 Conference and the Federation of University Sports of China.

Joshua Smith crashed through the lane and jumped . . . yes, jumped . . . to tip in a rebound. He then sprinted . . . yes, sprinted . . . to get back on defense. Back on offense, he posted up and spun quickly . . . yes, quickly . . . for a layup. As UCLA prepares for the 2012-13 basketball season, there are several weighty topics to discuss: The four incoming freshman who comprise one of the nation's best recruiting classes . . . a trip to China for three exhibition games in August . . . and, of course, renovated Pauley Pavilion, which reopens in November.