Although Bruins Breeze, Hazzard Is Hardly Pleased

There was more bad news for California’s Bears, who showed up at Pauley Pavilion for the traditional UCLA welcome and their 51st straight loss in the series, even if that was the only good thing Walt Hazzard could find about the evening.

The UCLA coach had joked that he’d kill his players if they let down, and life insurance rates for the Bruins skyrocketed as they eased past Cal, 80-69, Thursday night. They’re now 8-7 overall and 5-2 in the Pacific 10.

Hardly mollified, Hazzard settled for sending out two hours worth of bad vibes and climbing all over the Bruins in his postgame speech. For the Gipper, you only have to win; for Walt Hazzard, it helps to play well, too.

“If this game had been on the road, we would have been in here in tears,” he told the press afterward.

And asked about the play of his big men, Brad Wright and Gary Maloncon, he said: “I guess they took the night off.”

A fuller text went like this:

“I was really disappointed in the mental preparation of our players. They walked out on the court like they thought they had just beaten Washington and all they had to do was show up to play against California. This is competition. When you walk out on that floor, you’ve got to be ready to play . . .

“We got out of here by the skin of our teeth. We missed free throws that we work on every day. If we make them, it’s no contest. But we kept them in the game.

“Maybe we just thought all we had to do was show up. And that is not me. That is not my style. And I refuse to let my team come out like that again.”

Aside from that, Hazzard thought it was a pretty good effort.

And actually, it was. Guard Nigel Miguel, playing with stomach cramps, made 9 of his 10 shots and held Cal’s flashy point guard, Kevin Johnson, to 5 of 18. Montel Hatcher hit 8 of 12 and finished with 17 points. And old Miller Light, the 173-pound Reggie, had a game-high 23 points with six assists and a game- and career-high 10 rebounds.

The game was everything Hazzard could have asked for, at least for the first five minutes of each half. The Bruins played enough tough defense at the game’s start to hold Cal to one field goal in seven shots, while the Bruins were making six of their first seven and jumping off to a lead that grew to 14-3.

After that, the Bruins loosened up and started trading baskets. Cal cut the lead to 20-17 and got out of the first half trailing only 37-31.

Obviously motivated by whatever was said at halftime, the Bruins charged out for the second half, outscored the Bears 12-6 and opened up a 49-37 lead.

Back came the Bears to cut the lead to 51-46. At that point, reserve guard Corey Gaines tipped the ball away from Cal forward Eddie Javius and scored on a fast-break layup, or the Bruins might really have been somewhere in tears.

Moments later, the Bruins ran off an 11-4 burst on plays that included the Bruins coming down the floor, throwing four passes without dribbling and hitting Miguel for a layup; another Miguel layup posting up Johnson, who is four inches smaller even at his listed 6-1; a three-point play by Miller; a pretty back-door layup by Craig Jackson.

Ahead once again by 12 points, 64-52, the Bruins loosened up on defense again and missed five of the first eight free throws in their delay game and the Bears cut it to 72-65.

At that point, Jackson missed an uncontested dunk. That was as bad as it got for the Bruins. Cal made the mistake of fouling Miller on the next three possessions and Reggie made all six free throws. The Bruins had won their fifth game in six, even if it didn’t feel like it.

Bruin Notes Cal shot 42.9% from the floor, the best any team has done against UCLA since the Bruins’ loss at Oregon State, which shot 55.6%. Only one other conference team, Arizona State, has been over 40% against the Bruins . . . Nigel Miguel, who played with stomach cramps, has made 14 of his last 15 shots. “I was just taking it easy,” he said. “Their guards were like 6-1, 6-foot. Really, to me it was an easy game. I think that’s why Coach (Walt Hazzard) was so mad. They said it looked like we were coasting out there.”... Reggie Miller played 39 minutes and 51 seconds. Freshman forward Craig Jackson went 25. Gary Maloncon, who was not in foul trouble, went 17. Brad Wright’s four rebounds was his low total of the season . . . The Bruins play Stanford at Pauley Pavilion Saturday night.