UCLA’s 89-84 Victory Stuns North Carolina

The sun seems to be shining high over the UCLA basketball program, where once again the future’s so bright, Reggie Miller has got to wear shades.

“This wasn’t no upset,” Miller said.

No?

Then what else would you call the Bruins’ 89-84 victory over North Carolina, the top-ranked team in the nation?

“I can tell you in one word: Redemption,” said center Jack Haley.

The Bruins were feeling pretty good about themselves Monday night, which was something they had not felt in quite a while, maybe all the way back to last November, when North Carolina beat them by 37 points.

So, before 12,594 at Pauley Pavilion, it was a victory with tremendously important implications for the Bruins, who had felt themselves stripped of their pride in seasons of late. Coach Walt Hazzard said it was a moral victory, too.

The moral is this: “We have just cleared a hurdle in this program,” Hazzard said.

And in order to clear that hurdle, all the Bruins had to do was leapfrog past the team generally regarded as the nation’s best.

Maybe a lot of people feel that way, but they obviously haven’t heard from Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith.

“I’ve said all along we’re overrated,” Smith said. “Maybe now, somebody will believe me.”

Obviously, the Bruins had been listening to Smith.

Said Pooh Richardson: “I’m sorry, but you know, I can’t really say that it was an upset.”

Just about everything had to fall nearly in place for UCLA to even start thinking about an upset, or whatever Miller or Richardson wanted to call it, which is basically the way it went.

As expected, Miller got his points, 32 of them, but they arrived in a slightly different package. Instead of rainbow jumpers, Miller scored most of his points on drives because the Tar Heel defense had denied him the outside shot.

But if Miller’s offensive output was not really unusual, UCLA’s new-found rebounding strength against one of the country’s tallest and deepest front lines, certainly has to be considered so.

By halftime, the Bruins had shot 62% and were clinging to a 47-39 lead behind Miller’s 11 points and 9 more by Montel Hatcher. They dearly needed all the scoring they could muster because UCLA was having a whale of a time keeping freshman J.R. Reid from around the backboards.

Reid is 6-9, weighs 244 pounds and the flat-top he wears makes him look like the cab of a truck.

Reid, who had 8 points and 4 rebounds in 10 minutes of the first half, picked up his third and fourth fouls early in the second half, and that’s just about the point when the Bruins started pulling away.

Miller’s breakaway layup five minutes into the second half increased the Bruin lead to 57-48, but 6-10 Joe Wolf and 6-10 Dave Popson kept North Carolina within range.

But at that point, with the nation’s former No. 1 prep center sitting on the bench for North Carolina, the No. 37 prep center took over the game for UCLA.

Greg Foster scored six points within a two-minute stretch and, after a rebound basket by Miller, the Bruins went ahead, 69-60, with 11:37 to play.

Foster finished with 13 points in 22 minutes, made all six of his shots and wondered afterward about the rating of prep players.

“I’m not No. 1 in the nation and I’m not No. 2 in the nation, I’m 37th in the nation, according to the books,” he said.

Said Hazzard about Foster: “I don’t think there are any better freshmen in the game this year.”

Reid and Scott Williams, a second tall, talented Tar Heel freshman, might not agree, but neither one could rescue North Carolina this time.

But when Reid came back in and Ranzino Smith began bombing, still another freshman played a big role. This time, it was 6-8 Trevor Wilson, who followed up a Popson stop-and-popper with a jump shot of his own for an eight-point UCLA lead, then tied up Reid along with Richardson, which gave the ball back to the Bruins.

Miller, fouled by Williams, made two free throws for a 10-point lead, 82-72, with just 3:21 left.

The Smiths, Ranzino and Kenny, air-mailed consecutive three-pointers, but Wilson’s dunk and an inside move for a basket after a Miller steal kept UCLA safely ahead, 86-78, within the last two minutes.

Not even two more three-pointers, by Jeff Lebo and Ranzino Smith, could prevent the Bruins from their appointed rounds, which was beating North Carolina.

What did the victory mean? Nothing much?

“Just everything in the world to us,” Haley said. “After last year, we wanted to beat them so bad. Last year, they physically pushed us around and beat us up. But now, we’re on top of the world.”

It’s kind of crowded up there right now. Too many Bruins.

“We were embarrassed last year,” Miller said. “That was on our minds all summer. We’ve got a lot of people to pay back. This one is just another check off my list. I have a long list.”