It’s Not Exactly ‘71, but Tonight’s Game Is a Big One

USC, a preseason seventh-place pick in the Pacific 10, will play UCLA, a preseason No. 5 tab, tonight at 7:35 in Pauley Pavilion in the Team of Destiny Bowl.

The Trojans (11-4) are tied for first place with Arizona. The Bruins (9-5) are 1 1/2 games behind.

A USC loss may be survivable. The Trojans have nothing left but games in the Sports Arena against Oregon and Oregon State.

A UCLA loss would not be survivable. “Every game at this point is sudden death,” UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said. “We lose, we’re dead.”

The Trojans are 17-7 overall and in good position for an NCAA tournament bid. The Bruins are 13-11 and a dark horse, or dark bear. The Bruin consolation is that they’ll have a hand in their own fate. After the Trojans, Arizona and Oregon State will play in Pauley Pavilion within a week.

You can throw the record book out any time USC and UCLA meet. Of course, you can throw the record book out any time USC meets anyone.

Two weeks ago, the Trojans had a five-game winning streak, a one-game lead and an unbeaten road record. Hazzard kept saying, “Maybe they are a team of destiny,” in a tone that suggested at least a degree of disbelief.

Then the Trojans lost--in the Sports Arena--to Arizona. They then dropped their second straight game to Stanford, the same Cardinal team that UCLA had led by 23 points three nights before. As someone pointed out to USC Coach Stan Morrison at his media breakfast Monday, playing in Pauley may be bad, but it could be worse. The game could be at Maples Pavilion.

There is a good reason for the Trojans’ struggles with Stanford. USC has a big, strong team (6-11 Clayton Olivier, 6-8 Wayne Carlander, 6-6 Derrick Dowell) that counts on getting the ball inside. Stanford Coach Tom Davis plays an unfathomable zone defense.

After the first UCLA-Stanford game, won by the Bruins, 100-71, Hazzard was asked what Davis’ zone was, a 2-3, a 3-2, a 2-1-2, a matchup, what?

“I don’t know,” Hazzard said.

Davis gives up the outside shot, takes away the inside stuff and hopes the other team isn’t shooting well. In both Stanford games, the Trojans weren’t.

“The point is well taken,” Hazzard said. “They do look to pound the ball inside. They set a million screens and pound it in. Our job is to protect the paint.”

UCLA plays man-to-man almost entirely, but the Bruins will sag, as they did in the first meeting, won by the Trojans, 78-77, in double overtime. The USC star that night was Dowell, who had 24 points and 21 rebounds.

“He reminds me of Paul Silas,” Hazzard said. “Outside a two-foot range, he’s not very dangerous at all, but he figures out a way to get inside that two-foot range.