UCLA Plays USC Tonight; Hazzard Says He’s Had Enough Classic Defeats

In his first season as the UCLA basketball coach, Walt Hazzard lost both games to USC. They were both classics. The game at the Sports Arena went to double overtime. The game at Pauley Pavilion went four overtimes.

The fact not lost on Hazzard is that UCLA lost them both.

As UCLA prepares to play USC tonight at 6 in Pauley Pavilion, Hazzard laments: “Six overtimes, three points . . . I’d like to beat USC just once in my coaching career.”

UCLA has lost its last three games to USC, including a game at the Sports Arena in 1984. So there is a lot of pride on the line tonight.

It’s also a key game to both the Bruins and the Trojans in the conference race. UCLA and USC have records of 3-4 and are in a four-way tie for fifth place in the Pacific 10.

USC, 9-8 overall, is coming off a nonconference victory at Arkansas.

UCLA is 8-7 overall and has lost three straight games, all in conference play.

Hazzard said: “This game is very important for the team’s confidence. But we lost a series of close games at this time last year and we turned it around.

“We’re a young team. I think we’re still a good team with the potential to be a very good team. We need to get back on the winning track.”

UCLA will use the same lineup against USC that it used against Cal, with Jerald Jones making his second start and playing at forward, and with Craig Jackson starting at center. Jack Haley, the starter at center earlier this season, will come off the bench.

Hazzard said that he would have Jones playing USC forward Derrick Dowell and Reggie Miller playing USC freshman forward Tom Lewis.

Notes Tonight’s game will be televised live on Ch. 2 and will be shown, delayed, on ESPN. The game also will be broadcast live on KMPC (710) and on KNX (1070). . . . USC Coach Stan Morrison is 6-6 against UCLA. UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard is 0-2 against USC. . . . USC forward Derrick Dowell had 24 points and 21 rebounds in the double-overtime victory over UCLA at the Sports Arena last season. Dowell ranks second in the conference in rebounds with 9.1 a game. . . . UCLA forward Reggie Miller leads his team in scoring, free-throw percentage and steals and is second in rebounding and assists. He leads the Pac-10 and was sixth in the nation last week in scoring (25.0 points a game). He is shooting .539 from the field and .902 from the line. After the Cal game, Miller, a junior, became the 25th player at UCLA to pass 1,000 points. he has 1,008 points. . . . UCLA freshman guard Pooh Richardson leads the conference with 6.8 assists a game. . . . USC’s four freshmen average 38.9 points of USC’s 68.1 points a game. . . . USC has not won four straight from UCLA since the 42-game winning streak between 1932 and 1943.