Bruins Make Unwise Plays vs. Owls’ Zone : Scrappy Temple Hands UCLA Second Straight Loss, 76-65

The UCLA Bruins discovered their Temple of Doom, all right, and they didn’t have to look very far to find it, either.

Maybe the Bruins are on their way back to national prominence like they say, but early this morning, they were merely on their way back to Los Angeles. They are carrying with them the awful truth that to be prominent again, they are going to have to play a lot smarter than they did in Monday night’s 76-65 loss to the Temple Owls.

In just three short days, the Bruins are clearly back down to Earth. After opening the season with three wins, they suddenly seem confused about something as elementary as attacking a zone defense.

“Now, people will think the North Carolina game was a fluke,” center Greg Foster said.

So it is a slightly disturbed UCLA team that limps home carrying back-to-back losses and all the emotional baggage that goes along with it.

Losing at tiny McGonigle Hall as UCLA did, is surely no disgrace because the Owls are very tough to beat in their 4,500-seat sweatbox, where Temple has won 62 of its last 63 regular-season games.

But the worst part about UCLA’s defeat seems to be that it probably could have won despite Reggie Miller’s sore ankle and the flu bug he picked up earlier in the day, if only the Bruins hadn’t done such a poor job against the Temple zone defense.

Miller scored just 9 points in 25 minutes, but the Bruins simply showed no patience attacking the Owls’ zone. Afterward, the Bruins acted as if they had a hard time even believing it themselves.

“It was just a Mickey Mouse zone,” UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said. “All you have to do is drive, make a couple of passes and get a good shot. That’s all.”

Apparently, it was too much for the Bruins to accomplish.

Hazzard said he would take the blame and said he was outcoached by Temple’s John Chaney, his former high school mentor. Hazzard may be right because one of his own players was unaware that Temple plays a zone defense.

“It surprised us,” guard Montel Hatcher said. “We thought they’d play man-to-man.”

The Bruins were befuddled by a defense that extended out to Miller on the perimeter but left gaping holes closer to the basket. Instead of forcing the ball inside, UCLA consistently shot from the perimeter, often after a single pass.

Was this sound strategy? Foster thought not.

“I was wide open down in the lane and I never even touched the ball,” Foster said. “We had people forcing the ball up outside. If the jump shot isn’t going, why not get the ball inside? We’re the best jump-shooting team in the country when they’re going in, but when they’re not, we’re the worst.

“I’m shooting 72%, but I guess that’s not good enough, so they just jack the ball up,” he said.

No, these were not happy Bruins. After three consecutive wins, they are 3-2, and the conference begins Friday on the road at Washington State, which is probably the worst possible place for it to start, given recent UCLA history.

The Bruins are 6-21 on the road in the Hazzard Era.

“I think our team has got to learn to win on the road,” said Hazzard, who played everyone in a UCLA uniform to try to come up with a way to get it done. Despite themselves, the Bruins were still close at halftime. This was some accomplishment, since Miller was scoreless, Pooh Richardson didn’t have a field goal and the Bruins turned the ball over nine times in the first 12 minutes.

At one point, Miller and Richardson fired up consecutive airballs, much to the delight of the first-ever McGonigle sellout in its 18-year existence.

But Temple led only 32-29 at the half because, unlike the Bruins, the Owls had settled on just one thing to do horribly. They shot only 29% and All-American candidate Nate Blackwell was just 2 for 10, mostly on jumpers.

Blackwell, however, began to drive to the basket in the second half, and that’s when Temple opened up the game because the Bruins did not do the same thing.

Blackwell, who finished with 22 points on 8-for-20 shooting, scored six consecutive points in a one-minute span as Temple opened up a 59-47 lead.

The game got away from UCLA a little earlier, right after Richardson began the second half with two quick hoops and Miller scored his first basket on a rainbow three-pointer that tied the score at 36.

Mike Vreeswyk, who had 21 points, broke the tie on a jumper, and after Richardson committed a turnover, Blackwell scored on a breakaway. Ramon Rivas rejected Richardson, and Vreeswyk sailed a three-pointer for a 43-36 Owl lead.

UCLA missed eight of its next 10 shots, including three-point attempts by Miller, Hatcher and Kevin Walker, and after four straight points by Rivas, a 260-pound center, Temple was ahead, 51-41, with 12:10 left.

The Owls’ lead eventually grew to 67-49 with five minutes left, at which time Hazzard was wondering whether he had done the right thing by playing Miller after all.

“I listened with my heart instead of my head,” Hazzard said. “I should have used my better judgment and held him out until Friday.”

Miller, who made just three of nine shots from inside the three-point stripe and two of six from beyond, was too ill to meet with reporters waiting for him after the game.

“We didn’t see the real good player he is,” Chaney said.

Neither did Chaney see a real good UCLA team, but he may have seen the last of a poor one.

“We had a lack of patience on offense,” Hazzard said. “It was something technical. It’s something we can work on. And believe me, we will.”

Bruin Notes

Pooh Richardson, who led UCLA with 15 points, spoke for the guards when he said the Bruins made a mistake against the Temple zone. “We did go too much to the perimeter,” he said. “We should have gone more inside.” . . . Montel Hatcher and reserve forward Charles Rochelin both had 14 points. Rochelin also had 9 rebounds, 13 shots and no assists in 23 minutes, his most extended playing time this season. . . . Center Greg Foster had just three rebounds in 20 minutes, but he made all four of his field goal attempts. Foster has made 17 of 22 shots this season.