Bruins Try to Get Even, Go Ahead of Stanford

As tonight’s rematch with Stanford approached, UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard recalled the moment when Todd Lichti’s shot dropped through the basket and Hazzard realized that the official had called it a three-point shot, denying UCLA a victory and sending the game into a second overtime.

It’s a shot that has haunted him since Dec. 23.

At the time, Hazzard knew that it was a big shot. Now it seems bigger.

He is still certain it was a two-point shot.

But because the shot counted for three, it tied the game, 99-99, with three seconds left in the first overtime. Stanford won in the second overtime, 116-110.

The loss dropped the Bruins to 0-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference and, according to Hazzard, played a role in his team’s struggle through December and January.

“Our game up there was a tough loss,” Hazzard said. “If we could have walked away with a victory, a lot of other things might have been different. . . . Losing that game that way really hurt our chances to repeat as Pac-10 champion.”

Tonight, when Stanford plays the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion, the battle is for third place in the conference. Maybe second place. UCLA (14-13 overall) and Stanford (18-9) are tied with Pac-10 records of 10-6, behind Arizona, which has wrapped up the regular-season title, and Oregon State, which is in second at 11-5.

The standings determine seedings for the Pac-10 tournament.

Hazzard also would like to wipe out the memory of the last game.

“We came back from death in that ballgame,” Hazzard said. “We were down by 18 to start the second half. But we made some good plays to tie it and sent it into overtime. That would have given us a split of the road trip after a terrible effort at Cal.”

Hazzard thinks the loss affected the Bruins in other close games.

“At crunch time, if you’ve had success, you’re thinking positively about the decisions you make,” he said. “If you haven’t had success, you’re more tentative.”

The Bruins, 11-7 since the loss to Stanford, are playing with “fire in their eyes,” as Hazzard puts it.

Stanford is coming off a 63-61 loss to Oregon State.

Bruin Notes

Tonight’s game at 7:30 will not be televised but will be broadcast by KMPC radio (710 AM). . . . Stanford has never won at Pauley Pavilion (0-22). . . . Stanford’s 116 points against UCLA in Palo Alto were the most ever scored against the Bruins. . . . Stanford’s leading scorer, guard Todd Lichti, is averaging 19.5 points a game. He’s a two-time All-Pac-10 player and is 80 points away from becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. . . . The Bruins’ record went above .500 after the victory at Washington State Saturday for the first time since they were 1-0 after beating Oral Roberts. . . . The tiebreaking procedure for seeding teams into the tournament that have the same conference records is: first, head-to-head competition; and second, how the teams fared against the No. 1-seeded team. Stanford has beaten Arizona. UCLA lost both games to the Wildcats.