UCLA Routs Stanford a Second Time, 93-62

A routed Stanford, 93-62, Thursday night. It was the first Bruin blowout since Jan. 2, when UCLA beat Stanford by 20 points. There must be a connection there.

“It looked like the same UCLA team to me,” Cardinal Coach Mike Montgomery said.

Oh, but it wasn’t. In between applying a couple of paint jobs on the Cardinal, the Bruins have had a whole series of close calls and more than a few off-color games, like last weekend in Pauley Pavilion.

This time, the Bruins played as though they felt it was time for something completely different. They wanted to beat somebody up. They wanted to romp. It just happened to be Stanford once again.

Montel Hatcher denied that the Bruins talked before the game about routing Stanford.

“But we did talk about it at halftime,” he said.

They ought to have further discussions. After all, so many nice things happened for the Bruins.

There was Trevor Wilson leaping off the bench to snatch 10 rebounds in 19 minutes.

There was Pooh Richardson directing a fast break that looked like a cavalry charge.

And there was Dave Immel, with 20 points in 28 minutes, unveiling a repertory of shots that he must have kept hidden in a closet at home. It featured a fallaway, left-handed jumper that would have knocked dust from the rafters had it been fired only slightly higher.

What was it?

“I don’t know what it was,” Coach Walt Hazzard said. “A left-handed, corkscrew, lean-away, fall-down, I guess.”

As things usually go when the Bruins play well, Reggie Miller was at the front. Mostly he was out beyond the top of the three-point line--way beyond the three-point line. This is where Reggie set up shop and put Stanford out of business.

Miller pulled the trigger 16 times and finished with 29 points on 11 field goals. He shot 5 for 6 from three-point range and led a Bruin fast-paced offensive attack that took out Stanford by halftime.

The Cardinal came in with two pieces of strategy. One was to slow the tempo. That didn’t work. The other was to make Miller shoot where he didn’t want to, which was doomed from the start because there isn’t any place Reggie doesn’t want to shoot.

Miller, who passed Bill Walton along the way in the UCLA career scoring list, said the Stanford defense made a big mistake.

“They were leaving me open at 28 feet,” said Miller, who then added that he also would leave people open at 28 feet. Everybody except one.

“I wouldn’t leave me open at 28 feet,” he said.

Montgomery admitted the Cardinal game plan didn’t exactly work out.

“We wanted to make Reggie shoot the ball deep,” he said. “Reggie sure had the answer to that.”

Most of the answers were provided soon after halftime. UCLA’s 35-25 lead at the midway point could have been higher had Stanford not finished the first half with six straight points. But the end came soon enough.

Charles Rochelin, one of four Bruins who scored in double figures, began the second half with consecutive baskets. Four points by Richardson and the first of Immel’s four three-pointers got the Bruins going again.

An inside basket by Wilson, two more close-to-the-hoop baskets by Miller, followed by a pair of free throws and another layup by Wilson made the score 56-39.

“That was trouble,” Montgomery said.

That was the ballgame. Miller, who defended guard Todd Lichti, Stanford’s only offensive weapon, held Lichti to four points in 30 minutes.

By the time Immel dropped his fallaway-whatever-it-was, the Bruins had zoomed to a 75-53 lead with 4:45 to go.

Hazzard pulled everybody except Immel, who kept on shooting, and the Bruins closed out with a 58-point second half, which didn’t exactly make Montgomery feel very good.

“The last part of the game was disturbing,” Montgomery said. “They were up 17, 18 points, and you accept the fact that you’re going to get beat. Then they’ve got guys going one-on-one and throwing stuff in.

“That’s what happens when you play UCLA,” he said. “They’ve got so many good players. What are you going to do? Put them in and tell them not to play?”

Hatcher, who just missed double figures with nine points, said it has been a while since UCLA played so well.

“Not since North Carolina,” he said.

That was Dec. 1. So what has UCLA been doing in the meantime?

“Well, all I know is we haven’t blown a team out in a long while,” Miller said. “We have the potential to play like this every night.

PACIFIC 10 STANDINGS

Conference All Games W L W L Pct Oregon St. 9 3 16 4 .800 UCLA 8 3 14 5 .737 Arizona 8 3 13 7 .650 Washington 7 4 13 9 .591 California 7 5 14 10 .583 Oregon 6 6 12 9 .571 Stanford 5 7 11 10 .524 USC 3 8 8 12 .400 Washington St. 2 9 6 13 .316 Arizona St. 2 9 6 13 .316