Richardson Gives UCLA a Lift Over Temple, 75-59

After UCLA’s 75-59 victory over Temple at Pauley Pavilion Saturday night, Pooh Richardson tried to say that he felt comfortable on the court with all those other guys from Philadelphia.

Don’t buy it. Pooh Richardson feels comfortable on the court with anybody, from anywhere.

What the newest little Bruin does won’t necessarily show up in the box score--he scored eight points and had four assists Saturday. What he does defies description. He has flash and showmanship. And with no telecast, it was wasted on just 7,887 fans.

Richardson, who chose UCLA over Temple, his hometown team, came off the bench early to take charge. He said: “I’ve been playing with these guys for years, every summer. I know them all, so I knew what I was doing.”

He was doing a lot of talking out there, but he said: “There was no ‘harm’ talking, just ‘pleasure’ talking.”

Richardson wasn’t the only Bruin who came off the bench to make a difference. Forward Craig Jackson pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds.

Center Jack Haley fouled out after playing just 15 minutes. He had no points and no rebounds. Meanwhile, he was causing Temple center Ramon Rivas to have the same kind of game. Rivas played just 11 minutes and had 2 points and 2 rebounds.

Temple Coach John Chaney said: “I feel they took our big guys out of the game with fouls. This wasn’t a big man’s game tonight. We got only 15 minutes from Ramon Rivas and 20 from (6-9 forward) Tim Perry. When we take those two players out, we are a very small and less effective team.

“I think two things hurt us. We were forced to come out of a balanced floor attack when Ramon and Timmy came out. We were getting the ball inside and scoring early with Tim. Our bench players aren’t big enough to fill the void left by Ramon and Timmy.”

Temple had jumped out to a 6-0 lead and had maintained that margin, even after Jackson had replaced Haley, and Richardson had joined the lineup. Temple stretched its lead to eight points before foul calls began to take their toll.

UCLA ran off 15 straight points to take a 36-27 lead during a run that included five free throws by Miller, who finished the night with 28 points and tied the Pauley Pavilion record with 12-for-12 free-throw shooting.

Midway through that streak, with 6:53 left in the first half, Perry picked up his third foul and had to sit out the rest of the half.

Perry, who had had his best game ever (17 points and 10 rebounds) in Temple’s opener, finished the UCLA game with just 11 points and 6 rebounds. His absence was felt in the first half.

By halftime, UCLA had a 41-33 lead.

Chaney left at halftime stomping his feet and waving his arms and letting the officials know just how he felt about a non-call in the final seconds of the half. UCLA had tried to play for the last shot, but when Temple pulled down a rebound and tried to put up a desperation shot from about 25 feet out, the Temple shooter was buried in Bruin arms. No call.

UCLA took control early in the second half, stretching the lead to 15 points and playing with that margin the rest of the way.

Jackson started the second half in place of forward Kelvin Butler, who had three fouls. Jackson played alongside Haley until Haley fouled out with 9:28 to play, and then it was Butler with Jackson again.

Miller, for one, has no qualms about relying on that smaller front line. He said: “Height is absolutely nothing; defensive rebounding is the key.”

Which is why Hazzard was calling Jackson’s play the biggest plus for the Bruins, just after noting an outstanding game by guard Corey Gaines, who had a career-high 17 points.

And, Hazzard said: “Reggie Miller is Reggie Miller. He’s incredible. They went to a box-and-one, and I don’t think it affected him one bit.

“This was a good win over a good team that forces you to think during the course of the game because of the different defenses. I thought our team did a good job of adjusting.”

UCLA’s record went to 2-1. Temple is 1-1 this season.

Temple won the Atlantic 10 title last season and advanced to the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament before losing to Georgetown. Temple finished last season with a record of 25-6.

“That’s a good team, a well-coached team that will probably win 25 games again this year,” Hazzard said.

Hazzard, like Richardson, is from Philadelphia, and there are other ties to that city. Chaney was one of Hazzard’s teachers at Overbrook High School. Chaney attended Ben Franklin High School. So did Richardson. And Richardson finally had to choose between playing in college for Hazzard or for Chaney.

Hazzard said: “There was never any bitterness. When Pooh made his decision, John said that he was glad that if he didn’t play for him, he would play for me.”

Bruin Notes

The game with Temple was the second of eight straight at Pauley Pavilion for the Bruins. Their next game is against Cal State Long Beach next Saturday. . . . Reggie Miller’s 30 points against St. Mary’s Friday night was not only a career high, it marked the first time a Bruin has scored 30 points since Rod Foster had 31 against Stanford in 1983. . . . In three games this season, Miller is averaging 26.0 points and is shooting 66%. . . . Temple’s only other game this season was a 64-51 victory over Drexel.