A Tough Practice Makes Bruins’ Play Close to Perfect

As a reminder that he wasn’t about to let the inmates run the asylum, Coach Jim Harrick reintroduced the UCLA basketball team Friday to a drill that the players hadn’t run since November.

“It’s one they really despise,” Harrick said.

Did he also lay into them verbally?

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he said.

Apparently, the message got through.

UCLA played its best game in a month and one of its best of the season Saturday in dismantling Washington, 93-74, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

A crowd of 3,551 looked on mostly in silence as UCLA had 17 points, a season-high 15 rebounds and 6 assists from Trevor Wilson, 18 points and 10 assists from Pooh Richardson and a season-high 22 points (on 9-of-10 shooting) from freshman Darrick Martin.

“We ran into a team that probably played as well as it can play,” Washington Coach Andy Russo said.

The Bruins’ effort was in marked contrast to Thursday’s 64-63 victory over Washington State. In that game, they barely stayed awake before rallying to overcome a 10-point deficit in the last 5 1/2 minutes.

That game so angered Harrick that he spent most of Friday’s practice redefining his role to his players.

“We got their attention and made it clear they were going to play my way or no way,” Harrick said. “I reminded them who was the captain of the ship and who’s running things. Once in a while, you’ve got to call roll.”

All Bruins were present and accounted for Saturday as UCLA improved to 12-5 overall and 7-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Pending the outcome of today’s showdown in Tucson between Arizona (8-1) and Stanford (7-2), the Bruins could find themselves in a virtual tie for the Pac-10 lead despite having played 6 of 9 conference games on the road.

“That’s a compliment to this team,” Harrick said.

Uncomplimentary, though, were reviews of the Bruins’ play through much of January, when a lack of cohesiveness fueled Harrick’s ire.

“I had seen it coming,” he said of the Bruins’ effort at Washington State. “Fortunately, we were able to correct some things with a win instead of a loss. . . .

“Sometimes you learn from adversity, and maybe I learned some things, too. I had been letting things go that I shouldn’t have.”

In Saturday’s game, Harrick said, “we got back to doing the things we do well. We balanced things up offensively and played good, sound, solid defense.”

Leading the way were Wilson, who matched a career high with his rebound total, and the Bruin guards, Richardson and Martin.

The play of Martin was especially satisfying to Harrick and Martin. Against Washington State, Martin went without a shot in 29 minutes.

“After that game, (Harrick) said to me, ‘You were a no-show,’ ” Martin said. “I said, ‘I might have been worse than that.’ I was very embarrassed. I’ve never played that poorly in my life.”

Said Harrick: “It’s great to see his competitiveness come back after such a horrible game.”

Martin and Richardson limited Washington’s options once the Huskies fell behind, Russo said.

UCLA, which outrebounded Washington, 39-21, led at halftime, 39-30. It increased the lead to 65-45 midway through the second half as Martin, who scored on several acrobatic drives in the first half, made two jumpers in a 16-4 run.

“You get behind a team like that and you can’t really press them, because their guards are so good,” Russo said. “You just have to take your chances and hope they start missing, which they never did today.”

Russo said the animated play of Wilson surprised him.

“We’d seen him on tape, and it seemed like he’d been real passive,” Russo said. “When he limits himself to being a perimeter player, he’s not nearly as effective. And today, he kept himself down in there.”

Friday’s practice probably had a lot to do with that.

Harrick ran the Bruins through a drill that is known as a “17” because the players are required to sprint up and down the court 17 times in a minute. According to Martin, it’s also called the Darrick Martin drill, “because I think I hate it more than anybody else.”

By any name, the exhausting drill--and Harrick--got the Bruins’ attention.

“He wanted to wake us up because we had been so lethargic,” Wilson said. “He made it clear he wasn’t going to tolerate us playing like that.”

Bruin Notes

Don MacLean, who made 5 of 7 shots and scored 12 points in the first half, played only 7 minutes in the second half and missed all 3 of his shots. Coach Jim Harrick apparently didn’t approve of the freshman’s shot selection. “He’s going to learn to sit a little bit if he doesn’t do what I want him to do,” Harrick said. . . . Charles Rochelin came off the bench to make 4 of 5 shots and score 10 points in 19 minutes. It was his first game in double figures since he scored 14 points Jan. 5 against Oregon.

Dion Brown, formerly of Crenshaw High, led Washington with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists and provided the play of the game in the first half when he scored on a reverse dunk off an alley-oop pass from Eldridge Recasner. Recasner, the Huskies’ leading scorer, was limited to 12 points. Recasner, who scored only 2 points in the first half, had made a school-record 33 consecutive free throws before missing his second attempt in the opening minute of the second half.