New Center Seals Win for UCLA

Although he didn’t know it at the time, Kelvin Butler was no longer just standing in for the UCLA center when he sank the clinching free throws in a 65-60 victory over Oregon Sunday afternoon. Butler was the starting center.

Greg Foster, the 7-foot sophomore who had walked out on the team during the shootaround Thursday afternoon, went with his mother to talk to UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard at the team’s hotel Saturday evening and told the coach that he planned to transfer.

Hazzard huddled briefly with Athletic Director Pete Dalis after the game at Pauley Pavilion Sunday and then made the announcement to the media.

Hazzard said, “Greg Foster informed me that he wants to transfer and that’s his decision. He will move on and we will work with the people that we have.

“The team is focused straight ahead. We’re the defending Pac-10 champions, but we’re in a hole right now. We’re going to get ready to do better in this race and prepare for the tournament.”

After scratching out an ugly victory over the 6-5 Oregon Ducks, UCLA’s record went to 5-8 overall. The defending champion Bruins are now 1-3 in the conference.

And they’re back to Butler at center. Which is fine with Butler. All he has ever really wanted to be was the UCLA center. He was a center at Riverside North High School, and he said that Larry Farmer recruited him as a center for UCLA. He wanted to be a Bruin so much that he waited around through the coaching change and was still available over the summer. When Hazzard signed him, Hazzard, too, said that Butler would play some center as well as forward.

“I’ve been a center all my life,” Butler said.

But the only games he started at UCLA, nine games as a sophomore, were at forward. Then he was injured. Then he spent his junior season mostly on the bench. Now, he says, he welcomes the chance to play.

Asked if he could understand why a sophomore would quit the team because he was out of the starting lineup for a game, Butler said, “No, I don’t understand that. . . . But I’m not really into all that.

“I’ll accept the challenge and do the best that I can. I think they want me to provide leadership, play good defense and rebound. I’ll try to do those things.”

He didn’t mention offense, which figures after going 0-for-5 from the field.

Getting this first conference victory was no easy task for any of the Bruins, as the 6,165 loyalists who showed up for the game can attest.

The Ducks led by as much as nine points in the first half, but the Bruins battled back and led by as much as five even before the Ducks’ star player, guard Anthony Taylor, had to sit down with his fourth foul. He picked up No. 4 with 13:55 left, then played for another minute and a half before leaving the game. He came back with just over 7 minutes left and with the game tied at 55-all.

When Taylor fouled out, with 55 seconds to play, the Bruins had a one-point lead and it was what the Bruins call crunch time. That’s when they usually get crunched.

But forward Craig Jackson made one of his two resulting free throws to give the Bruins a two-point lead and then Jackson tipped an Oregon pass to guard Dave Immel to put the ball back in the Bruins’ hands.

When Oregon’s Rick Osborne went flying into Butler and was hit with an intentional foul with 22 seconds to play, Butler made the second of his two free throws to give the Bruins a three-point lead.

But Butler wasn’t finished. Because the foul on Osborn was intentional, the Bruins also got possession of the ball, and Butler was fouled again, this time by Jeff Crawford. Butler went to the line to shoot a one-and-one with 20 seconds on the clock.

He made two to give the Bruins a pretty safe five-point lead.

“It helped that Taylor was in foul trouble most of the game and was in and out,” Hazzard said. “When he fouled out at the end, we were able to capitalize on that. . . . We needed this, that’s for sure. We struggled to win, but a lot of people contributed and we got it done.”

Jackson led the Bruins in scoring with 15 points.

Jackson, who quit the team last year because he was discouraged with the way he was playing, has worked his way back into the starting lineup. So, of course, he was asked what he thought about Foster’s decision to leave the team.

“Whenever you lose a 7-foot starter, it’s going to have some effect,” Jackson said. “I don’t think you can say it’s behind us already. But we’ve dealt with adversity in the past. I, personally, have been through a lot of adversity here.

“I’ve learned a lot of humility since I’ve been here at UCLA.”

Bruin Notes

With its first conference victory this season, UCLA moved up from last place in the Pac-10 to a tie for seventh with Cal and USC, both also 1-3. UCLA’s next game is against USC in Pauley Pavilion Thursday night. . . . The last time UCLA started 5-8 was 1945-46, which was Wilbur Johns’ last season. . . . UCLA evened its record in Pauley Pavilion this season at 5-5. . . . Craig Jackson’s 15 points Sunday was just two short of his career high of 17 scored against Washington State in the 85-86 season.