After Rough Trip, Arizona State to Meet UCLA

Until last week, everything was going pretty smoothly for Arizona State and its high-flying new basketball star, Joey Johnson. But that trip to Oregon was rough.

After a disappointing 86-84 loss to Oregon at Eugene, which spoiled the Sun Devils’ undefeated record in the Pacific 10, the sparks really started to fly when they got to Corvallis.

Johnson, younger brother of the Boston Celtics’ Dennis Johnson, missed the shoot-around the afternoon of the Oregon State game and was taken out of the starting lineup. When ASU Coach Steve Patterson looked down the bench to see if Johnson was ready to go in the first half, Johnson appeared to be sulking, so Patterson left him on the bench.

At halftime, Johnson reportedly threw a screaming fit at the coach, who was late coming out for the second half. Johnson didn’t come out at all for the second half.

Arizona State lost that game, too, 76-68, and is 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-10.

At least, Joey Johnson is still on the team and could possibly be back in the starting lineup tonight against UCLA at the Arizona State University Activity Center in Tempe, Ariz.

When UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard took his center, sophomore Greg Foster, out of the starting lineup for the Bruins’ game against Oregon State a couple of weeks ago, Foster quit the team. What is it about these Oregon State games?

Monday, after the loss to Oregon State, Arizona State lost guard Tyrone Mitchell, a sophomore who had played with UCLA forward Trevor Wilson at Cleveland High School in Reseda. Mitchell called his coaching staff from his home and told them that he would probably transfer.

When Patterson, a former Bruin, was asked to comment on UCLA’s problems this season, he said, “I wouldn’t speculate on what their problem is. . . . I know how tough it is, so I won’t second-guess.”

Indeed, both of these teams have had their problems.

As the defending champion, UCLA (6-9, 2-3) was expected to fare a little better. Arizona State was something of a surprise with its fast start. Arizona State beat Stanford, 104-80, and Cal, 82-60. UCLA lost to Stanford and Cal.

Johnson, who had started six games at small forward, was the third-leading scorer for Arizona State, behind senior forward Eric Holloway and senior guard Arthur Thomas, who are both averaging 16.5 points a game. Johnson was averaging 10.3 points and 3.3 rebounds, and leading the team in blocked shots and steals.

Last season, when he led Southern Idaho Junior College to a 37-1 record and the national community college title, Johnson averaged 19.5 points and 8 rebounds a game. His jumping ability has coaches raving about what he can do for highlight films. At 6 feet 4 inches and 185 pounds, he has a vertical jump of 50 inches.

When Johnson lost his starting job, he was replaced by Mark Carlino, a 6-7 junior who is averaging 2.3 points a game. Carlino and Thomas were the only returning starters from last season’s team. At center, the Sun Devils have a 6-9 sophomore, Mark Becker, and the other guard spot belongs to Mike Redhair, a 6-4 sophomore.

Bruin Notes

Tonight’s game, which begins at 6 PST, will be national televised by the USA network and will be broadcast by KMPC (710). . . . Steve Patterson, who was the starting center on UCLA’s 1969-70 and 1970-71 championship teams, is in his third season as Arizona State’s coach. . . . UCLA leads the series with Arizona State, 19-8, and has won two of three against the Sun Devils last season. UCLA won at Tempe last year, 61-51.

Guard Dave Immel is still the Bruins’ leading scorer, averaging 14.9 points a game, but forward Trevor Wilson, the team’s No. 2 scorer with an average of 14.6 points a game, has been coming on strong. . . . Kevin Walker, who comes off the bench for the Bruins, is averaging just 8.7 points a game, but he is the team’s top three-point shooter with 23 of 45. When it was suggested that maybe Walker should be a little more picky in looking for his first shot, Coach Walt Hazzard said, “He’s a shooter. I don’t want to mess with his head too much. He’s stroking the ball real well right now. I think he’ll be even better when he gets some more confidence.”