Pauley Court to Be Named for Wooden

INDIANAPOLIS —  On the flight to the Wooden Tradition, UCLA officials decided to move ahead with naming their home floor “John Wooden Court at Pauley Pavilion,” to honor the coach who led the Bruins to 10 national championships in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The idea has been discussed for several years, but administrators believe there is no reason to wait any longer.

Wooden, 92, attends most home games. On Saturday, he was at Conseco Fieldhouse to award trophies to Duke and Purdue for their victories.

However, he would not comment on the performance of UCLA, which was defeated by Duke, 84-73.

“I don’t want to give advice,” Wooden said. “That would make me sound critical, and I’m not going to be critical.”

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T.J. Cummings and Ray Young were late to the same team meeting Friday night, but for different reasons. Coach Steve Lavin benched them for the first eight minutes.

Young said he set the clock in his hotel room to Central rather than Eastern time.

“I was an hour off,” he said. “I nodded off after dinner and woke up late. I let my team down and I feel horrible.”

Cummings said he was late because he took too long in the bathroom.

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UP NEXT

Dec. 8 vs. Long Beach State (1-1), 1 p.m. -- This game is the beginning of what appeared to be the breather portion of the Bruin schedule -- home games against the 49ers, Portland and Northern Arizona. However, UCLA (0-2) has not proved it can beat anyone.