With Miller Slowed, UCLA Is Stopped by St. John’s, 70-63

As it turns out, Reggie Miller’s ankle was worse than thought--and so was UCLA Saturday against St. John’s.

What was supposed to be the beginning of something big on the road for the Bruins instead became something that looked a lot like last season, when UCLA won only 2 of 12 basketball games away from home.

St. John’s won, 70-63, before a crowd of 11,839 at Madison Square Garden, and if the Redmen didn’t need much help sending the Bruins spiraling toward their first defeat of the season, they got some anyway when Miller’s week-old twisted right ankle slowed his usual high-scoring game to a crawl. Better make that a limp.

Miller finished with 18 points, nine below his average, but he scored only two points in the first half as St. John’s established the kind of slowdown pace that it, but not UCLA, could live with.

How bad was Miller’s ankle? UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said it was bad enough that consideration is being given to keeping Miller out of Monday night’s game at Philadelphia against Temple.

“I’m more concerned with him being healthy for conference play,” said Hazzard, who thought Miller still played well enough against Willie Glass, St. John’s heralded defender.

“Willie Glass said he is the best defensive player in America, and well, he played a one-legged man and the one-legged man still scored 18 points,” Hazzard said.

Miller led the Bruins with nine rebounds, but he said his ankle, which had swelled up on the plane ride from Los Angeles, prevented him from moving laterally, from making cuts on the floor and from playing his best on defense. “I’m not going to say I didn’t feel it,” he said. “It definitely needs rest, but I wanted to play this game and I want to play Temple, too. It’s up to the head coach. If he says I can’t, then I can’t.”

There were too many things the Bruins could not do against St. John’s, which stayed undefeated after six games. UCLA’s biggest problem was an old one: It did not rebound consistently, especially on defense, and also chose the worst possible time not to.

The Bruins did, however, survive Miller’s two-point first half and trailed only 32-31. At that point, even Hazzard was relieved to be so close to the Redmen.

“I still felt pretty good because we were playing terrible and we were only down by one,” he said.

Montel Hatcher, who matched Miller with 18 points, finished a string of nine consecutive Bruin points in the first four minutes of the second half that put UCLA ahead, 42-37. Six minutes and six points later, the Bruins trailed but were still in the game, drawing to 49-48 on Miller’s driving layup.

But from then on, St. John’s flashed its inside game, led by 6-foot 9-inch forward Shelton Jones, who had 21 points with 11 rebounds, and by Glass. The game quickly got away from the Bruins.

Glass rebounded a missed shot, stripping the ball from Trevor Wilson, and put it back in the basket. UCLA’s Dave Immel turned the ball over, and Jones scored on a defensive mismatch with Hatcher.

Miller missed a three-pointer, then, after Glass also missed, Jones tore a rebound away from Miller and scored for a 55-48 St. John’s lead.

On that play, Hazzard showed his displeasure with UCLA’s rebounding by pulling 6-11 freshman center Greg Foster out of the lineup.

“We had a chance for a defensive rebound, and he (Foster) was at midcourt,” Hazzard said. “I’m not going to take that from my big man. If he’s going to do that, he’s going to sit next to me and watch the game.”

So Foster, who had one rebound in 12 minutes, sat down beside Hazzard on the bench, and together they watched St. John’s put the game away at the free-throw line.

Actually, that was just about the only place either team seemed to score any points. St. John’s got its last eight points on free throws, failing to score a field goal after Glass’ rebound basket provided a 62-56 lead with 5:06 to play. In fact, the Redmen were outshot from the field by UCLA, 26 baskets to 23 and 46% to 40%.

Hazzard expressed his displeasure with the officiating crew because of the number of free throws that St. John’s received. The Redmen were 23 of 32 from the line, contrasted to UCLA’s 8 of 11.

“This was a good lesson--to go on the road where the home team shoots 32 free throws and we shoot 11,” Hazzard said. “We’re not happy about it, but it’s a good lesson.”

UCLA guard Pooh Richardson, who tied the school record with 14 assists, said: “You can’t fault the defense.” It may be permissible, however, to fault the rest of the UCLA passing game, which produced only two other assists--one by Craig Jackson and another by Jack Haley.

But Haley found other reasons for the defeat.

“The spark was not there, the continuity was not there and the emotion was not there,” he said.

For the Bruins, all that was there was their first loss after three victories and the possibility of playing their next game without Miller.

“If he can’t play, there’s going to a whole lot more pressure to win in Philadelphia than there already is,” Haley said.

Bruin Notes

St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca said the Redmen played their best game of the season and credited Willie Glass for his defense. “You’ve got to marvel at Glass for the tremendous job he did on Reggie Miller,” Carnesecca said. . . . The UCLA bench combined for four points, all by Trevor Wilson. St. John’s reserves totaled 21 points.