UCLA Has Outside Chance Against Louisville : Bruins Will Depend on Shooting From Guards as They Face the Nation on TV

UCLA’s basketball team has been a flop this season on national TV. The Bruins have lost to St. John’s and Notre Dame before national television audiences.

When their 52-game winning streak against Cal ended, it was before a regional television audience.

Not what you might call real troupers, these Bruins.

But they will have another chance at noon (PST) today when they play the University of Louisville here, with NBC televising the game to the rest of the country (Channels 4 and 39).

UCLA, with an overall record of 9-7, is not favored to beat Louisville (12-6), but a victory is not out of the question.

Confidence is high among the Bruins, who beat this team twice last season--once at Pauley Pavilion and again during the National Invitation Tournament in New York.

As Reggie Miller pointed out after UCLA’s 66-56 victory over USC this week, “It was about this time last season when we started turning it around.”

The Bruins at one point last season had a record of 10-11, but they won 12 of their last 13 games and the NIT title. They scored their two victories over Louisville in that end-of-the-season run.

Miller had what was then a career high, 27 points, in the first victory over Louisville last season, standing back and firing from long range over the Cardinals’ zone defense.

No matter what type of defense Louisville Coach Denny Crum throws at the Bruins this time, it’s a good bet that UCLA will again rely on outside shooting.

Miller continues to be the team’s scoring leader, followed by shooting guard Montel Hatcher and point guard Pooh Richardson. All put it up from the perimeter.

The Bruins don’t have much of an inside game, especially now that big forward-center Kelvin Butler is out with a torn abdominal muscle.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard agrees with Miller’s hunch that it’s about time for the Bruins to make that turnaround run, but Hazzard added Friday evening, as his team practiced in Freedom Hall: “This time last year, we had more bodies to work with.”

Butler and guard Corey Gaines, who is out with a hip-pointer, did not even make the trip with the Bruins.

Hatcher, whose shooting has been off the last few games because of a bruised right hand, sat with the hand in ice every moment that he was not involved in the practice.

Still, the outside game has to be considered the Bruins’ strength.

Louisville, too, has one of its top talents at guard, with Milt Wagner back for his senior year after sitting out last season with a broken foot. Wagner leads the well-balanced Cardinals in scoring with an average of 14.9 points a game.

The other starting guard, Jeff Hall, who is averaging 9.9 points, is the only starter not in double figures.

Freshman center Pervis Ellison has won the starting spot and is averaging 11.8 points, but Mark McSwain, a junior who was the starter last season, averages 10 minutes a game, coming in to give the Cardinals a more physical attack.

A leader for Louisville over the last three seasons has been big forward Billy Thompson, who is averaging 13.8 points.

When asked how the Bruins match up against the Cardinals, Hazzard said: “Not very well.”

He took a look at the information on both teams provided by the sports information director, saw that the sheet listed just the starters and said, “You’re not doing the Louisville team justice.”

Louisville does indeed lean heavily on a couple of other guys coming off the bench. Freshman swing man Tony Kimbro averages 19 minutes, and freshman forward Kenny Payne averages 11 minutes.

But Louisville has not been having the best of times. At the start of this week, Crum was busy defending Thompson, who has had a couple of off games. He made some key errors at the end of a recent game against Kansas, which Louisville lost by two points.

Crum was angry with newspaper reporters who criticized his forward, but he was especially angry when Thompson was booed by the fans Tuesday night.

Crum has also been reminding the folks that they shouldn’t expect too much from this team.

Crum said: “I told everyone at the start of the year that this team would have its ups and downs and probably wouldn’t have a great record, but I also said that we had the potential to be an outstanding team by the end of the year.

“I still feel that way. We’re not bad right now.”

Bruin Notes Today’s game will be broadcast on KMPC (710). . . . UCLA has a record of 9-7 overall, 4-4 in the Pacific 10. Louisville has a record of 12-6 overall, 2-2 in the Metro Conference. . . . UCLA had lost three straight games before beating USC Wednesday night. Louisville had lost two straight before beating visiting La Salle Tuesday night. . . . The victory over La Salle was the 350th victory for Louisville Coach Denny Crum, who is in his 15th season as the Cardinals’ coach. Crum played for UCLA and was an assistant coach under John Wooden. His career record is 350-113. . . . UCLA leads the series with Louisville, 6-2, including two victories last season. UCLA beat Louisville, 75-65, at Pauley Pavilion during the regular season, then 75-66, in an NIT semifinal at Madison Square Garden. . . . Crum missed practice himself Thursday. He had the flu.