UCLA Hopes to Gain Split With Arizona Tonight

In its final home game of the season at Pauley Pavilion tonight, UCLA’s basketball team will be seeking to keep its NIT and, on a real long shot, its National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament hopes alive, while at the same time avoiding the embarrassment of being swept by any team in the Pacific 10.

It won’t be easy.

UCLA will be playing Arizona, the team that is leading the conference with a record of 13-3 (22-7 overall) and the team that beat UCLA, 85-60, a couple of weeks ago.

UCLA is in fourth place in the conference with a record of 8-7 (14-11 overall).

After beating DePaul last Saturday, UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard announced: “We have no time to celebrate. We have a very tough Arizona team coming in here Monday. We are going right back to work with a practice on Sunday. This is the team that embarrassed us in Tucson.”

Besides the idea of evening the score with the Wildcats, the Bruins are eager to put a strong finish on this season the way they put a strong finish on last season to make their way to the NIT title.

Hazzard has told the Bruins that he would not even consider an NIT bid unless they have a better than .500 record. Just one more victory in these last three games (at home against Arizona tonight, at Oregon State Thursday and at Oregon Saturday) would give them a winning record.

A sweep of these last games would give them a five-straight-victory finish. Just in case that should happen, Bruin forward Reggie Miller would like to plant a thought with those on the NCAA tournament committee: “We finished strong last year and we went on to win the NIT. Maybe the NCAA committee will think about that this year.”

The best finish the Bruins can hope for in the conference is third place, and all indications are that the NCAA committee will not invite more than two Pac-10 teams to the tournament.

Hazzard said, “I don’t know how deep they’ll go into our conference. We keep hearing that it will be just two. I think that’s largely because of the way we have been maligned in the media. . . . Yes, I do think that our conference deserves to send more than two teams to the tournament.

“I know that we have played a very good schedule. Most of the teams that we have lost to have been very good teams.”

Bruin Notes UCLA’s game against Arizona at 6 tonight at Pauley Pavilion will be televised, live, on KCBS (Ch. 2) and ESPN. It will be broadcast on KMPC (710). . . . UCLA is coming off a close (65-63) victory over DePaul. Arizona is coming off a close (62-61) victory over Washington State. . . . Arizona has won six straight. . . . Arizona has won just once in Los Angeles in 16 games. . . . In the first game this season between UCLA and Arizona, the Wildcats were led by forward Sean Elliott, who had 20 points and 9 rebounds.