UCLA will need more fire against Buffs

Thursday night, UCLA played inspired and with what Jerime Anderson described as some fire under our belly, in their 76-49 win over Utah. Im glad he feels that way and lets hope that we have that same good fire in our belly for (Saturday) because were going to need it, said Howland. We have good kids and they want to win and they were disappointed about the road trip last week and got a huge opportunity (on Saturday) against a very good team and you got to have that fire when you play all of the time. The test will be a lot tougher on Saturday for the Bruins (11-9, 4-4 Pac-12) when they host Colorado (14-6, 6-2 Pac-12) at 1 p.m. on Prime Ticket. The Buffaloes are tied atop the conference with Cal, Oregon, and Washington. Andre Roberson, the leagues leading rebounder, gets a lot of the attention, averaging a double-double with 11.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, but hes only third on the team in scoring. Colorado has four players that average double figures, led by Carlon Brown (13.4 ppg) and Austin Dufault (11.8 ppg). Dufault is a marksman, making 51 of his field goals, including 44.1 from beyond the arc for the Buffaloes, who last year had a school record 24 wins. That team was led by Alec Burks was taken with the 12th pick in the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, causing their success this season to be a surprise to many. Theyve got good players, said Howland. Theyre well coached and they play real hard and they execute their stuff. Theyre a hard team to play against. The fourth player to average double figures for the Buffaloes is a local product, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie out of Taft High School in Woodland Hills. Dinwiddie is another shooter for head coach Tad Boyle, knocking down 43.9 of his three point shots. (Hes) having a great year. Hes got to be one of the (top) freshman in our conference for sure and really a heck of a player, said Howland. This is the beginning of a tough stretch for the Bruins. Three of their next five games are against teams that are currently tied for 1st place in the conference. Wins wont be easy to come by for the Bruins who are currently 7th in the Pac-12 standings. Every win is important and were playing a lot of top teams at home coming up and this is the first of a number of them and Colorado is very good, said Howland. This is the first meeting between the two schools since 1977, which ended in a 34-point win for the Bruins. UCLA leads the all-time series 4-1. Howland has never coached against Colorado.