Watson Won’t Hold His Tongue

Point guard Earl Watson wants to win more than he wants to be liked. So he makes no apologies for losing his cool during timeouts in Saturday’s loss to No. 1 Stanford. More than once, he angrily tore into teammates.

“I just felt like we weren’t all on the same page, and that really frustrated me,” he said. “That was the one day you want everyone to be on the same page. . . . This team has to be bonded together.”

Watson declined to elaborate when asked who was on a different page. He said he plans to react the same way tonight or Saturday if he senses his teammates losing focus.

“If I ignore it, I’ll be thinking after the season that I should have paid more attention to it, acknowledged it more,” he said. “It’s my last year. I don’t have time for next year, so there’s definitely a sense of urgency for me.

TONIGHT

at Washington State, 7

* Site--Friel Court, Pullman, Wash.

* Radio--KXTA (1150).

* Records--No. 13 UCLA 20-7, 13-3; Washington State 12-14, 5-11.

* Update--The Bruins need a sweep of the Washington schools if they want to stay in the hunt for a No. 2 seeding in the NCAA tournament. Washington State, which has won three consecutive conference home games, is 3-54 against UCLA when the Bruins are ranked. Jason Kapono has attempted seven or fewer shots three times in the last five games--seven against Stanford, five against California and four against Arizona State. X-rays revealed guard Ray Young suffered a hairline fracture in his right pinkie Tuesday during practice. He is expected to play tonight with his finger bandaged.