Tonight May Clinch It, but UCLA Isn’t Talking : A Win Over USC Would Give Bruins Pac-10 Title and a Possible NCAA Berth

Now, let’s observe a moment of silence in honor of the UCLA-USC basketball game.

There must be something about UCLA that causes laryngitis, because for the second time in a week, the Bruins are playing a team that practiced for them by not talking.

Just as Oregon State did, the USC Trojans are taping their ankles, then taping their mouths for tonight’s game with UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.

Whatever is going on, it seems to be catching. Against the greatest of odds, even Reggie Miller has it. “I’ll tell you all about USC after we play them,” he said.

That may be as close to no comment as Reggie is capable of.

Talking, and its sub-category, “talking trash,” seem like popular issues these days. USC Coach George Raveling, for instance, has put a gag on the Trojans after complaining that all the verbiage makes the Pacific 10 Conference look bad.

But another Pac-10 coach, Oregon State’s Ralph Miller, isn’t upset about players doing a lot of talking, even though one of his own, center Jose Ortiz, said last week that some of his Beaver teammates couldn’t handle pressure.

Said Miller: “I don’t know what’s so unusual. (Talking) has been a method used to get somebody’s goat. I don’t recommend it, but I think everyone has the right to expression. Some cheep a lot and some don’t.”

Raveling adheres to Miller’s theory that talk is cheep. Before he lowered the verbal curtain earlier this week, however, a few sentences had already been uttered.

Trojan forward Bob Erbst said, for instance, that the Bruins should not take USC lightly.

“I think they might be overlooking us and I can see why, but when we beat Oregon State (they) found out this league is not that tough that we can’t beat anybody,” Erbst said. “UCLA should remember what happened at the Sports Arena because we were only a couple of plays away from them then.”

Of course, UCLA’s players maintain that they are not forgetting about the Trojans. The Bruins won the first meeting at the Sports Arena, 77-65, in what once looked like an early blowout. But it didn’t turn out that way when Derrick Dowell scored 35 points, and USC narrowed the gap to 69-62 with 4 minutes 9 seconds left.

But there is complete agreement among the Bruins that bigger game lies ahead once USC is out of the way.

Here is what’s on the Bruins’ agenda: UCLA (13-4) can clinch the Pacific 10 championship by beating USC (4-13). UCLA (19-6 overall) can also practically guarantee itself an NCAA tournament berth with its 20th victory of the season.

“That usually does it,” Miller said.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard said his team deserves no less than serious consideration for the NCAA tournament.

“Our schedule has not been easy, playing Temple at Temple and St. John’s on the road, but I really think we need to earn that position anyway,” he said. “I don’t think we’re a lock. We still have work to do.”

USC, which isn’t going anywhere but to the Pac-10 tournament, will probably finish last in the regular-season race, but Hazzard said that Raveling’s Trojans have something to play for anyway.

“George has really got that team to reach its potential,” Hazzard said. “They’re going to try to make their season in our game. All I know is anything can happen.”

What happened in the first meeting was that USC got caught up in a running game. Instead of running time off the shot clock and slowing the tempo, which is what Raveling wanted, the Trojans got flustered by UCLA’s 2-2-1 zone trap and ran right out of the game.

Montel Hatcher expects USC to come out with the same strategy and a hope for better execution than last time.

“They don’t want to run with us and they don’t handle (defensive) pressure well,” Hatcher said. “In order for them to stay close, the score has to be in the 50s. If we can come out good and get a lead, we should have no problem.”

The Bruins haven’t had many problems since just before Christmas when they were 3-4. UCLA is 16-2 after that. But perhaps since those two Bruin defeats were upset losses to Washington and Arizona State and both were in Pauley, Hazzard is insisting that his team can take nothing for granted, not even USC.

“Sure, they’ll be loose, but we’ll be free-stroking, too,” Pooh Richardson said. “Whatever it means for the NCAA tournament, we’ll let somebody else add it up.”

Bruin Notes Game time is 8 p.m. ESPN will televise the game, and KMPC and KNX will broadcast it. . . . If Arizona and UCLA finish tied for first place with the same conference record, they would be considered Pacific 10 co-champions. However, UCLA would win the tiebreaker with Arizona and become the No. 1-seeded team in the tournament because the Bruins swept both games from the Wildcats. . . . UCLA starting guard Dave Immel missed half of Wednesday’s practice because of illness, and his status will be determined today. . . . USC is pushing hard for Derrick Dowell as the Pac-10’s most valuable player, chosen by the coaches. Among conference players, Dowell is third in scoring with 20.5 points, fifth in rebounding with 8.5, and first in steals with 2.1. He has scored in double figures in all 26 games, he has scored 20 or more points 13 times and 30 or more points five times. Dowell’s points represent 34% of USC’s scoring this season and his rebounds represent 26% of the team total. . . . Pooh Richardson, who has 166 assists this season, is already fourth on UCLA’s all-time list, behind Ralph Jackson, Roy Hamilton and Andre McCarter. . . . Last season at this time, UCLA was 14-11. . . . UCLA’s starting five is shooting a 54.1% in Pac-10 games. Immel leads at 56.8, followed by Jack Haley, 54.8; Richardson, 54.7; Charles Rochelin, 54.2, and Reggie Miller, 51.7. Montel Hatcher, the Bruins’ sixth man, is shooting 56.5% in his last eight games.