UCLA hoops notes

* UCLA took three days off and will return to practice today.

* David Wear has soreness in his left calf after it was hit during the Arizona State game.

* Ben Howland on Joshua Smith turning the corner:
"It was one game, but I thought he had a good week going into that week - I was disappointed he couldn't play against Arizona. We need Josh to play as he did saturday. He was very inspired. He played really hard, with a little animation."

* Howland on the play of the Wears against Arizona/Arizona State:
"Just more physical on both ends of the floor. Defensively, (they were) bumping bodies and blocking out agressively. I thgought the same thing about them posting up, they did a real good job of posting up and being really agressive going to the basket."

* Howland on the advantage of playing so close to USC so often:
"Yeah, but we haven't been playing at the Galen Center. It's a big difference. They're going to have all their fans there and we're going to get what, a couple hundred tickets?"

* Howland on Norman Powell's inconsistency:
"He's a freshman. He's learning and he's figuring things out. You get to conference, and it's a different level. The level is raised even higher because of intensity."

* Howland on Powell's dunking abilities:
"I don't care about that, but he is definitely our best dunker. He really is. He has a great body. One thing about being a freshman, he's learning a lot - but he also has this body that doesn't wear down. He has this live, active body."