Stanford hopes UCLA game signals more assertive Michael Humphrey

Stanford hopes UCLA game signals more assertive Michael Humphrey

In the first half of Sunday night’s loss to No. 4 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, he drove inside and dunked.

Even though he was scoreless in the first 10 minutes and fouled out with just less than two minutes left, he had 27 points and 14 rebounds in the 89-75 loss.

Against UCLA, he was doing his best to make up for the absence of Reid Travis.

The Cardinal’s leading scorer and rebounder didn’t play on the Los Angeles trip because of a shoulder injury.

The Cardinal (8-8 overall) have started Pac-12 play with four losses and have lost seven of their past nine, although five of the losses were to ranked teams.

Humphrey said he was motivated against UCLA not just because the Cardinal were shorthanded — Grant Verhoeven missed the second half with an illness — but because of his performance (six points, four rebounds) in the earlier 72-56 loss to USC.

“I just didn’t make some shots or play the way I needed to on defense,” he said.

Humphrey had plenty of help from point guard Robert Cartwright, who repeatedly set him up for baskets.

A mild-mannered young man, he needs to bring out his inner beast, it appears.

“You have to be a different player once you step inside the lines than the type of person you are outside the court,” he said.

Haase even yanked him from the starting lineup for four games recently, saying he wanted to light a fire under Humphrey, who missed another game with a concussion.

“I hope to recruit a bunch of nice, intelligent, good guys to Stanford,” Haase said.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.