UCLA Basketball: Will The Real Tony Parker Please Stand Up?

UCLA Basketball’s senior big man Tony Parker is his own worst enemy. Though he can have some dominating games, he is limiting himself with foul trouble.

Eleven minutes. Two points. Three rebounds. Four personal fouls. That was UCLA Basketball senior Tony Parker’s stat line for the game against UNLV in the first round of the Maui Invitational Tournament, where the Bruins defeated the Rebels 77-75.

In a sloppy late game, UCLA had to do without the services of Parker for nearly 3/4 of the game. Parker had picked up two fouls early in the game and then was handed #3 at the 7:13 mark of the first half. It got even worse.

Parker started the second half and 19 seconds in, picked up foul #4. He promptly sat and did not return for a long while. It was not until midway through the second half that Parker got his only basket of the game. If UCLA wants to be successful, Parker cannot continue to do this as he is a big part of their game plan.

UCLA Bruins /

UCLA Bruins

This is nothing new, but it is something that needs to be remedied quickly. For Parker’s sake and the sake of UCLA Basketball. The Bruins NEED Parker and Parker NEEDS to stay out of foul trouble.

Parker has shown that he can be effective. In his first two games, Parker had 19 points, 19 rebounds 4 assists and 1 block against Monmouth and 16 points and 14 rebounds against Cal Poly… all without fouling out.

But those were against teams with not much in the front court. Tonight, the Bruins are going to be challenged against #5 Kansas and expect the Jayhawks to go right at Parker.

Parker cannot fall into that trap again. He has to play smarter and he has to stay in the game, even if it means giving up a basket or two (though that is a different issue with the lack of defense).

Parker can be a force if he asserts himself, but if he does not have the focus, he will be seeing a lot of time on the bench and both him and the UCLA Basketball team cannot afford that. Hopefully, he learns from last night and comes ready to play, because as stated before, UCLA needs this guy to be in top form, especially against Kansas.