Miller Scores 39; in UCLA Victory

After scoring a career high 39 points in UCLA’s 88-81 victory over Washington State Sunday afternoon, Reggie Miller went right back to the subject of what the last couple of victories have meant to the Bruins’ chances in the Pacific 10 race.

“Everyone thought we were out of it when we lost those four games, but it’s like I said, it was about this time last season that things started going our way,” Miller said. “It’s swinging back to us. The ball is in our court now.”

UCLA is now alone in third place in the conference standings with a 6-4 record (11-8 overall). Washington leads the conference at 8-3 and Arizona is second at 7-3.

And the Bruins play at Arizona Thursday night.

Bruin guard Corey Gaines, who came off the bench to give the Bruins a lift in his first appearance since suffering a hip pointer Jan. 15, said that he thought the game at Arizona might determine the conference champion.

Gaines said: “If we can beat them, I think that will give us some momentum for the rest of the conference season.”

UCLA has eight Pac-10 games left, just three at Pauley Pavilion.

For some teams, playing at Pauley Pavilion is a problem. Washington State, for example, has never won at Pauley Pavilion. They Cougars are 0-21 at Pauley and 0-29 against UCLA anywhere in Southern California.

Washington State, which had won three straight, including an overtime victory at USC Thursday night, dropped to 5-6 in the conference.

But UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said: “This Washington State team is as good a team as there is in the conference. A victory over them is nothing to sneeze at.”

Nobody was sneezing. Nobody in the crowd of 6,841 at Pauley Pavilion Sunday afternoon was doing much of anything.

It was a very quiet crowd, no doubt made smaller by the fact that the game was televised locally. And the game did nothing to excite those who did show up.

Washington State had led by seven points early in the first half and still led by three when Gaines, coming off the bench, sparked an eight-point streak.

Freshman guard Pooh Richardson had just swished an 18-footer when he came up with a steal that he fed to Gaines for a drive through the lane and a layup.

After a timeout, Richardson pulled down a defensive rebound, which Gaines fed inside to forward Craig Jackson for a slam dunk.

Miller then grabbed a defensive rebound, was fouled, and made two free throws to give the Bruins a five-point lead.

Washington State never saw the lead again.

There was a similar streak in the second half, when the Bruins built a 10-point lead. The margin stayed at 10 points, 79-69, on Miller’s 22-footer from the left corner after an incredible 35-foot bounce pass from Richardson.

Washington State Coach Len Stevens said: “There is probably no other team in the U.S. that wins the way they do. Pooh Richardson does a great job of getting the ball to the right people. He has great composure for a freshman.

“When they need to widen the gap, they go to Miller, who is extremely tough.”

Miller made 15 of 24 shots from the field and 9 of 11 from the free-throw line to better his career high of 35 set at Washington State and equaled against Arizona State.

Asked why he has so much success against Washington State, Miller said: “It comes easy. My teammates were feeding me the ball at the right time in the right place.

“Basically, Washington State is a man-to-man defensive team. Playing one-on-one is in my favor. . . . Some people think that because I’m an outside shooter, I’d rather see a zone, but when they play me one-on-one, I can break my man down.

“If they play me for the jumpshot, I have to drive. That’s what I did today.”

Gaines gave the Bruins their biggest lead of the game, 81-69, by following that Richardson-to-Miller play with a driving layup off a fast break.

Rebounding, which the Bruins have been doing much better in the last few games, has opened up the run-and-score offense.

UCLA outrebounded Washington State, 44-33. That made a big difference.

Added to their poor rebounding, Washington State was having trouble hitting the basket (32.6% in the first half).

Stevens said: “We did not put the ball in the basket. We had so many good shots that did not go in.’

Forward Otis Jennings and center Brian Quinett each had 18 points for Washington State.

But Jennings also had four fouls, as did forward Joe Wallace.

Hazzard said: “Jennings picked up his fourth foul with about eight minutes to play, and I think that softened his defense. Wallace also had some early foul trouble.”

But Hazzard did not think that those factors diminished the Bruin victory.

“It was a well-earned, hard-fought victory. It didn’t look that good in the first half, but we pulled it together for a good team effort,” Hazzard said.

Bruin Notes Bruin forward Craig Jackson also had a career high 17 points. . . . Reggie Miller’s 39 points Sunday was the most points scored by a Bruin since David Meyers had 39 at Oregon Feb. 8, 1975. No Bruin has scored 40 or more since Bill Walton scored 44 against Memphis State in the 1973 NCAA championships game. Miller said, “I know I’m going to hear that if I had made just one of those two free throws I missed, I could have broken that 40-point barrier.” . . . Bruin center Jack Haley, who had 17 rebounds in the first game against Washington State, had 11 this time, along with six points. Hazzard said: “A big difference in our team is the attitude. I think the team now has confidence in both Craig Jackson and Jack Haley.”