HOLLINS BECOMES A CONSISTENT FORCE CENTER MAKES HIS PRESENCE FELT IN POST.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

For three-plus seasons, UCLA senior center Ryan Hollins showed glimpses of his freakish athleticism on the basketball court, but that was his problem. Blocking Channing Frye's shot, or grabbing an offensive rebound and slamming it through the rim came only occasionally.

Far more regularly, the 7-foot Hollins was a study in frustration. There was the poor footwork nearly every time he touched the ball in the low post, the lack of strength in rebounding and the inability to finish around the basket, among other things.

Then came March 4, when UCLA clinched the Pacific-10 Conference regular-season title with a victory at Stanford, when all that plagued Hollins seemed to suddenly vanish, and the player Steve Lavin recruited four years ago finally emerged.

As the No. 2-seeded Bruins prepare to face No. 3 seed Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 on Thursday in Oakland, nothing is more surprising than Hollins' transformation into a legitimate scoring and rebounding threat.

``Everyone that knows me knows my potential and what I can do,'' Hollins said. ``It's not a big surprise. I think people are just happy for me that things are finally coming around.''

Hollins has made all eight of his field-goal attempts in the NCAA Tournament and is averaging 11 points per game in the tournament, while playing solid defense in the low post and rebounding well.

Hollins' metamorphosis from bumbling big man to energetic spark can be traced to the game against Stanford. Since then, Hollins has made 78.8 percent (26 of 33) of his shots, gotten to the foul line with consistency, grabbed 5.8 rebounds per game and more than doubled his season scoring average. And that has given the Bruins another scorer to go with shooting guard Arron Afflalo and point guard Jordan Farmar.

In UCLA's first 29 games, Hollins averaged 5.1 points and reached double figures three times.

``He's found a way to manufacture points on his own,'' Afflalo said. ``No guy on this team gets the ball force-fed to himself, so you have to find ways to be successful. I think he's done that. He's finally grasped what he needs to do to help this team.''

Hollins is helping not in the traditional center role, or the one he played as a sophomore where he would post up, get an entry pass and try to score by either sweeping to his left or taking a fallaway jumper.

Instead, Hollins is the benefactor of Farmar, or backup point guard Darren Collison, or another Bruin penetrating the lane and passing off to an open Hollins.

``When the defenses collapses, we're finding our big man, and he's finishing in a crowd,'' Bozeman said. ``I think he's comfortable now. He knows what he has to do.

Hollins said this isn't a three-week aberration, in which ``he's playing the best basketball of his career,'' as coach Ben Howland said.

Hollins believes he finally understands what Howland wants, and Howland has come to understand the best way to utilize Hollins. Trust was a big factor in this relationship, and Hollins admitted it took a while to give his to Howland.

As a sophomore, Hollins played 711 minutes in 28 games. In the same number of games as a junior, Hollins played 460 minutes.

There was also a knee injury that hampered Hollins. He put off surgery until late in the summer, so he couldn't take part in offseason workouts with the coaching staff, nor play all summer. When he arrived for his junior season, Hollins found himself behind Michael Fey, and he never emerged.

We weren't in a situation where coach had the time to grow with me. Coach had to win. He had to find something that worked.''

It took early-season injuries to Fey and freshman Alfred Aboya for Hollins to get consistent playing time this season.

``Ryan Hollins seems to really be buying into what Ben wants from him,'' Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. ``He seems to be playing with a lot of energy and making big plays and making big stops, and really bringing them a lot.''

Brian Dohn, [phone]

brian.dohn(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) After averaging 5.1 points in his first 29 games, UCLA center Ryan Hollins is averaging 11.8 points in his past six games.

Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

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NCAA TOURNAMENT