Streaks End as Bruins Fall, 95-87

Say goodby to Reggie Miller’s hair. Say goodby to UCLA’s nine-game winning streak. Say goodby to the Bruins’ unbeaten record at Pauley Pavilion and then say goodby to first place.

UCLA did not fare well Thursday night. The Bruins lost, 95-87, to Washington in a game they absolutely had to have and didn’t get.

Instead, they got steamrolled by the bigger, badder Huskies, who probably rescued their Pacific-10 season with a startling victory accomplished when they pounded the Bruins inside on the strength of 7-foot, 245-pound Chris Welp and 6-10, 230-pound Phil Zevenbergen.

The Huskies, 11-9 this season and 5-4 in the Pac-10, had a 1-20 record at Pauley before Thursday night.

The Bruins fell to 12-5 overall and 6-3 in the conference as they dropped out of first-place behind 7-3 Oregon State, which defeated Stanford.

Meanwhile, Miller’s hair is doomed. It was safe as long as the Bruins kept their winning streak, but that’s a memory now. It’s back to the shaved head.

Zevenbergen scored 23 points and Welp scored 20, all of them inside, and that offset 32 points by Miller, who got his outside, which is the only place the Bruins were even slightly effective.

Washington crushed the Bruins on the backboards in the second half, 29-17, and finished with a 51-34 rebounding advantage. The Huskies had an astounding 25 offensive rebounds, 17 in the second half.

“The game was on the boards,” Husky Coach Andy Russo said.

No kidding. The Huskies’ flexed their inside superiority at all times, even when they were shooting free throws. Four times Washington players rebounded their teammates’ missed free throws.

Meanwhile, UCLA could do little right. Streak shooters Montel Hatcher and Dave Immel streaked right on out (5 for 14) and when the Huskies went inside, that left openings for Greg Hill and Elridge Recasner, who combined for 28 points.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard tried just about everything short of sneaking assistant coaches Andre McCarter and Sidney Wicks into the game. They might have helped, because nothing much worked against the inside power and bulk of the Huskies.

“Rebounding takes more heart and effort, and they had more of both,” Hazzard said. “The other team outrebounded us, they had more desire, they got the second and third shots, they outran us, they wanted the game more.”

He didn’t leave anything out, did he?

Hazzard tried fronting Welp. He also tried backing him and siding him. He used single coverage and double coverage, and Welp still hung around the backboards for 15 rebounds. Zevenbergen had 13.

As far as substitution strategy, Miller appeared briefly in the backcourt. And for a brief time in the second half, the Bruins fielded a front line of Kevin Walker, Greg Foster and Jack Haley, all 6-10. Even if it wasn’t effective, at least it was symmetrical.

Four of UCLA’s five starters went into the locker room at halftime with three fouls. They were joined shortly by Hazzard, but not before he detoured on his way off the court and complained loudly to two officials about the calls.

Did it make any difference?

Yes. Washington picked up three fouls in the first 57 seconds of the half.

No. Three minutes later, Haley, Immel and Charles Rochelin had all been planted on the bench with four fouls.

When the whistles finally lay silent, UCLA had been called for 33 fouls leading to 48 Washington free throws. The Huskies numbers were 19 fouls leading to 19 UCLA free throws.

The Bruins were tied, 38-38, at halftime but they were lucky to be there. UCLA should have been real worried because it was being probed at its weakest spot.

So in the first half, the Huskies’ power game ran the gamut, all the way from W to Z, or Welp to Zevenbergen. They combined for 19 points on inside moves against a constantly rotating Bruin defense that had only one thing in common--fouls.

The Bruins committed a bunch of them. Actually, 17, which meant that the Huskies shot 25 free throws in the first half.

UCLA was not close because it shot a lot of free throws. The Bruins shot only 7, all of them by Miller, who made six in one of his most entertaining first halfs of the season, even if it wasn’t shooting so great.

Miller had 18 points at the midway point to go along with six rebounds. And although he was just 5 for 14 from the field, which included 2 of 8 three-pointers, he alone represented the Bruin offense. Pooh Richardson’s jump shot joined Immel’s and Hatcher’s in the deep freeze. Richardson shot 4 for 13.

Miller shot just 10 for 25 and made only 3 of 14 three-point attempts.

Bruin Notes Two former UCLA basketball players who have transferred to other schools have been interviewed by the Pacific 10 conference representative for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Corey Gaines, who is redshirting at Loyola, and Jerald Jones, a redshirt at the University of San Francisco, were interviewed about two weeks ago, apparently as part of a routine procedure of interviewing transfers, although Gaines said he was also asked what he knew about UCLA’s recruitment of Sean Higgins. UCLA’s signing of Higgins is the subject of an informal investigation by the Pac-10, a probe that was begun once Higgins asked to be released from the letter of intent he had signed with the Bruins in November. Gaines, who said he understood his Jan. 16 interview to be nothing more than routine, told a reporter four days later: “They were like searching for something. They were like leading me on . . . to say something negative, like I was angry at the school or I was unhappy when I left. I told them it wasn’t that way. I just wanted more playing time and I wasn’t going to get it there (UCLA).”

Gaines, who said he knows Higgins only in passing, said he was told by the investigator that Jones had already been interviewed. “It’s like you’re on trial,” Gaines said. “I’m only 21. I didn’t want to make any mistakes in what I said. They asked me about my summer jobs, what kind of jobs I had. They really stayed on that a long time. I don’t know why. That was legit.” UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard met with Athletic Director Peter Dalis this week to discuss the summer jobs program of the basketball program. There is growing speculation that no matter what is revealed in the Higgins probe that he will not wind up playing for either UCLA or Michigan, the other school in which Higgins is interested, and that Nevada Las Vegas could wind up with Higgins in the end.