Bruins in a zone to win Pac-10 opener

The words rolled out of Ben Howland’s mouth smoothly, no hesitation, not so much as a stutter.

During a timeout in the first half, with UCLA struggling on defense, the coach who swears by man-to-man told his players to go back out on the court in a zone.

“I thought hell froze over,” guard Michael Roll said. “I mean, nobody in the world expected Coach Howland to play zone.”

It was but one surprise on a Thursday full of surprises, culminating with a 72-70 victory over Arizona State at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins won their Pacific 10 Conference opener with an offense that came suddenly to life, pouring in three-pointers.

They won with the shortest starter on the floor, point guard Jerime Anderson, leaping to deflect a last-second shot and save the game.

“I went up and tried to reach as far as I could,” Anderson said of the three-point shot by Jerren Shipp.

The victory reinforced a philosophy that Howland had preached to his players all week. After a disappointing run through the nonconference schedule, he told them to pretend they were starting over.

So rather than dwell on a 6-7 record, the Bruins are focused on being 1-0 in conference. As Howland said: “We started a new season today.”

They began again with senior forward Nikola Dragovic emerging from a slump, scoring four three-pointers to stretch Arizona State’s pesky defense and open an early lead.

But not all was going well, not with the Sun Devils creating opportunities off screens and running forward Rihards Kuksiks back and forth along the baseline.

So Howland made two adjustments, laying off the defensive pressure his players usually apply to screens and, more noticeably, switching to the zone.

He told them to try it for a possession, later insisting it was a spontaneous decision.

But players said they had been practicing the zone, which made sense to Arizona State Coach Herb Sendek.

“I think they had every intention on playing both defenses against us,” Sendek said.

Regardless, the Sun Devils (10-4) appeared startled, and UCLA switched back and forth after that. Defense, along with torrid 83% shooting, accounted for a 42-31 halftime edge.

A rejuvenated Dragovic was especially happy, saying: “Like old times . . . it felt good.”

The second half would be a different story, for a couple of reasons.

First, UCLA’s out-of-this-world shooting returned to a more reasonable 63% -- still the best anyone has managed against a Sendek-coached team. Second, with Arizona State guard Derek Glasser suffering through a subpar day, the Sun Devils turned to their bench.

Led by Southern California native Demetrius Walker’s eight points, they closed a 16-point gap with less than five minutes remaining.

“Those guys stepped up and got us back in the game,” Sendek said.

UCLA was giving up too many jumpers at the end of the shot clock, so Howland stuck with his trusted man-to-man. It helped when Kuksiks, who led Arizona State with 15 points, missed a key three-pointer.

“I would like to take credit,” Howland said. “But I think some of it was, he didn’t make the shots he was making in the first half.”

Dragovic was on his way to scoring 23 points -- tied for his career best -- with Malcolm Lee and Roll adding 16 and 12, respectively.

In the final minutes, the Bruins missed a few too many free throws, giving Arizona State a chance to steal the game.

“We knew they were going to make a push,” Roll said. “We just had to sustain it.”

Specifically, UCLA needed a certain guard to come up with only his fourth block of the season, sealing the victory as time ran out. Anderson said: “I was extremely excited.”

The final surprise of a surprising day.

david.wharton@latimes.com

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