For Openers, Bruins Get Pauley Pushovers

It looks like an easy week for UCLA, which opens its Pacific 10 basketball schedule by playing two teams at Pauley Pavilion that have never won there. Jim Harrick, you lucky guy. UCLA gets crushed at North Carolina and now this .

First up, tonight at 7:30, is California, followed Friday by Stanford, each accompanied by a 23-year losing streak at Pauley.

Harrick said that he was unaware that neither Cal nor Stanford have won at Pauley since it was built in 1965 to give John Wooden a nice place to sit.

“I didn’t know that, but I like it,” he said. “That’s good. I hope they never do, too.”

Regardless of their zero success rate at Pauley, however, Cal and Stanford may be difficult match-ups for the Bruins because of their strength up front. Cal Coach Lou Campanelli, for instance, has welcomed 6-foot 8-inch center Leonard Taylor back into action after 1 1/2 years of absence because of injuries.

With Taylor playing alongside 6-6 forward Matt Beeuwsaert, the Golden Bears are 6-2 and have beaten Florida and Villanova. They have not, however, beaten UCLA at Pauley, but Campanelli said that statistic is only partly his fault.

“I personally don’t make a big deal out of it because we haven’t been here for 30 years,” Campanelli said. “And after all, we’ve beaten them 2 times at Harmon (Gym, on the Cal campus). But, yeah, it would be nice to end it, put it behind us. That would give people one less thing to talk about.”

There have been many things to talk about in Westwood since the Bruins got drilled Saturday in Chapel Hill, 104-78. UCLA was swamped in just about every facet of the game. The Bruins led in just 2 categories--rebounds and technical fouls.

Harrick said the Tar Heels played a “near-perfect” game. The Bruins (4-1) played a somewhat lesser game. Harrick smiled when he thought about how his players felt going into the game.

“I think maybe they thought they were pretty good,” he said.

And are they?

“We’re all right,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for ourselves this week. It’s going to be interesting.”

Along with Arizona, Stanford (5-2) is one of the glamour teams in the Pac-10, although a colorful reputation as it relates to the Cardinal must be applied with a paint roller. Coach Mike Montgomery’s bunch of bangers opened their conference schedule with a, well, a bang. They outrebounded Oregon State by 26 and outscored the Beavers by 28 Saturday night at Palo Alto.

“You just don’t do to Oregon State what they did to them,” said Harrick, who said before the season that he was concerned about the Bruins’ rebounding and must be feeling doubly doubtful now.

But Cal comes first. Part of the fascination with playing Cal, besides their 0-for-Pauley streak, is the return of Taylor, a highly recruited high school star from Inglewood. He was averaging 19 points and 8.8 rebounds when he injured his neck in a game against UCLA in January, 1987. He missed the rest of that season, then broke his foot last season.

A fifth-year senior, Taylor leads Cal in scoring, at 15.5 points a game, and rebounding, 9.9.

“He’s much better, much stronger,” Harrick said. “I’ve always said, a guy is never better than he is when he’s a fifth-year senior.”

Bruin Notes

Trevor Wilson, the Bruins’ leading scorer and rebounder, will draw Cal forward Matt Beeuwsaert as his defensive assignment. . . . In the continuing saga of Kevin Walker’s ankle, he hurt it again. The UCLA high-post player “rolled” his ankle in practice, said Coach Jim Harrick, who plans on Walker getting better quickly. Walker will defend against Cal center Leonard Taylor. . . . Harrick said Pooh Richardson will match up against his point guard counterpart, 6-4 junior Keith Smith, who is not only averaging 5.4 assists, but also 15 points.

Gerald Madkins, seriously injured in a car accident, may be allowed to participate in passing drills in January. Madkins is definitely out for the season, Harrick said. Madkins will likely have surgery in February to remove a plate from his abdomen. . . . Cal, which has won 5 straight, hasn’t played since Dec. 10 when the Bears beat Villanova, 73-71.