Playing Under a New Banner, UCLA Wins

Only the truest of the true-blue Bruin fans showed up on the cold and blustery Friday night after Thanksgiving to see UCLA beat a not-quite first-rate basketball team and hoist a not-quite first-place banner.

Before a crowd officially announced as 7,241, UCLA raced to a 91-62 victory over St. Mary’s in its home opener to even its record at 1-1.

And in a ceremony before the game, UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard unveiled the NIT banner, now hanging from the rafters among the 10 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. No. 1 banners.

As last week’s 37-point defeat at North Carolina demonstrated, UCLA is a long way from another NCAA banner.

“The most important thing was for this team to get a taste of victory,” Hazzard said. “We have some things to work on, but I think, by conference time, we should be a good team.” UCLA looked pretty good against St. Mary’s, a member of the West Coast Athletic Conference. But, then, St. Mary’s has not beaten UCLA since the 1958-59 season.

UCLA forward Reggie Miller, who always looks good, led the Bruins with a career-high 30 points (12 of 17 from the field) and 8 rebounds. Miller said: “I could have had 40. I missed a few shots in the second half, and I should have had 40 points easily.”

Freshman guard Pooh Richardson, who has yet to break into the starting lineup, was also sensational as he demonstrated, with absolute confidence, that he is ready to run the team. Pity the poor teammate who doesn’t jump to the spot Pooh points out.

But there are still some weak links.

And Hazzard said that he thought his team’s slow start showed some residual effects of last week’s confidence-crushing defeat.

St. Mary’s did manage to take the lead, very briefly, in the early going. The Gaels were up by four points before UCLA spurted to a 15-point lead.

The lineup that accounted for that run included starting forwards Miller and Kelvin Butler, starting guard Montel Hatcher, Richardson and 6-7 sophomore forward Craig Jackson in place of 6-10 center Jack Haley.

Corey Gaines also played well with Richardson in the backcourt.

Early in the second half, against the Bruin starters, St. Mary’s closed within nine points. UCLA was up by 12 when Haley picked up his fourth foul with 15:04 to play, and Hazzard went back to the lineup of Miller, Butler, Jackson, Richardson and Hatcher. The Bruins ran off 10 straight points to lead by 22.

It was more of the same with Gaines in the lineup, and the Bruins stretched their lead to 26.

Using several combinations of players, UCLA’s lead went to 33 points in the final minutes.

Asked about the smaller lineup, Miller said: “We have a good chance with that smaller lineup because we are quicker than most teams. . . . We’ve just got to come together, talk a lot. If we communicate, we’ll be OK.”

Hazzard is not ready to go to the smaller lineup on a permanent basis, though. He’s counting on Haley to come through, even though Haley is playing catchup after getting a late start at the game of basketball.

“If he just gets the defensive rebound and plays a little stronger, plays big in there, he can help our team,” Hazzard said. “The biggest test for me this season is learning patience with this team because we are so young.”

UCLA will play at Pauley Pavilion again tonight at 7:30 against Temple, which will be coming in with a record of 1-0 after beating Drexel last Tuesday.

“We will be severely tested by Temple,” Hazzard said.

Bruin Notes

UCLA’s game tonight against Temple will be broadcast on KMPC radio (710). . . . Temple is in Philadelphia, home of both Bruin Coach Walt Hazzard and Bruin freshman Pooh Richardson. Temple Coach John Chaney attended Ben Franklin High School in Philadelphia, the same as Richardson. . . . Temple had a record of 25-6 last season, won the Atlantic 10 title and advanced to the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament. . . . Two of Temple’s leading players are gone, now--forwards Granger Hall (18.0 points and 8.5 rebounds a game) and Charles Rayne (12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds). . . . This season marks the 20th anniversary of Pauley Pavilion. After the game with St. Mary’s, UCLA has a record of 297-23 in the building. . . . The banner commemorating UCLA’s NIT victory last spring is of the same design as the NCAA banners but is slightly smaller.