UCLA Downs ASU Double-Handedly : Miller and Hatcher Contribute 62 Points to Bruins’ 86-75 Win

Among the players not available for Bruin basketball Thursday night were Kelvin Butler (torn abdominal muscle), Corey Gaines (hip pointer) and Jerald Jones (grounded).

Not to mention 7-foot Tito Horford (unwanted, still), who wasn’t even among the 7,879 fans in attendance at Pauley Pavilion.

Of course, who does UCLA need besides Reggie Miller and Montel Hatcher these days? Somebody to inbound the ball, sure, but then who can’t do that? It’s a free ride.

Miller and Hatcher combined for 62 points in UCLA’s 86-75 victory over Arizona State as the Bruins improved to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the Pacific 10.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard, who likes to have a team philosophy (else why give out all those scholarships?), was semi-apologetic after the two juniors took the game away.

“Well,” he said, “they are our best shooters.”

Hatcher, who had taken some heat from Hazzard after questionable shot selection in the overtime win at Washington State (it was because of Hatcher that it even went to overtime), exhibited a marvelous economy of offense against the short and short-handed Sun Devils (7-7 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-10). He took but 16 shots in scoring his 27 points.

Admitting to a hand that should have been gloved by a potholder, Hatcher said, more or less, why not?

“I knew after the first couple of shots I had it,” he said. “If I make the first one or two, I’ll make a few more.”

Hatcher, admittedly shooting over guards that were but 5-9 and 6-0, made five of six shots in the first half and then made his first seven in the second half before finally missing.

The only thing that could hobble him was a cramp in the thigh, which caused him to finally limp out of the game with a minute and a half left--right after he scored on a three-point play to open a two-point led to five. The Sun Devils never came back.

Like Hazzard, Hatcher wasn’t remorseful about the way he and Miller dominated the offense. “The coach wants the ball in our hands,” he said. “With our team, it’s basically me and Reggie doing the scoring.”

Nor was Miller, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, particularly sorry about the offensive imbalance. Miller scored 8 of his 35 points on free throws when the ASU desperation level threw the game out of whack. He ended up making all 17 of his free throws as the Bruins connected on 28 of 30 from the line. But Miller’s most important points came early, when he was demonstrating his new ability to score from inside.

“I’m going inside first,” Miller explained. “No one has really been productive inside, so I’ve taken it upon myself. For anything to happen, since we’re not as big a team as we’d like to be, I have to go inside.”

Miller hoped it would do as much for his image as his team’s won-lost record.

“I have an inside game, too,” he said. “Everybody thinks I’m a perimeter shooter. But now they won’t know how to play me.”

Former Bruin Steve Patterson, who was unlucky enough to be made interim ASU coach, thought he had an idea how to play both Hatcher and Miller.

“You would think,” he said, “that if we shot 10-footers and they shot 25-footers, we would have an advantage.

“Hatcher and Miller just killed us. No matter what we did, we could not shut them down. We made them shoot the ball with a hand in their face, but they just shot the lights out.”

Patterson was operating at a disadvantage. He had suspended his best player, Chris Sandle, for a series of minor club violations. Sandle’s replacement, Steve Beck, scored two points. Patterson, perhaps cheered by that, announced after the game that Sandle was off the team for good. Maybe if Beck had been shut out, he would have thought twice.

Hazzard, meanwhile, was taking a hard line all his own, and not just with Jones, whom he held out of the game for who knows what. (“And if he does it again, he’s off the team.”) Hazzard was talking tough on Tito Horford, the talent who just can’t find a basketball home. After Kentucky announced he wasn’t welcome in their program, it quickly developed that UCLA was the next program to be petitioned.

This prompted UCLA Athletic Director Pete Dalis to issue the following pronouncement: “We wish to thank Mr. Horford for his interest in the program, but despite rumors to the contrary, he will not be enrolling here. In our opinion, it is best for all concerned that he continue his career elsewhere.”

Hazzard boiled it down to this: “Tito will not be a Bruin. That’s all I have to say.”

And against the likes of Arizona State, who needs him?