NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Richardson Provides Big Assist as Bruins Beat Cyclones, 84-74

Summarizing a surprisingly routine 84-74 victory over Iowa State Friday night in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament, UCLA Coach Jim Harrick methodically rattled off the keys to the Bruins’ success:

--They ran their fast break well.

--They effectively executed their half-court offense.

--They defended.

--They rebounded.

“And then we had Jerome,” Harrick called out.

That would be Jerome (Pooh) Richardson, who scored 19 points and equaled a UCLA record with 14 assists as the Bruins improved their record to 21-9 and advanced to the second round of the Southeast Regional.

UCLA will meet second-seeded and fifth-ranked North Carolina (28-7) Sunday in a rematch of a December game won by the Tar Heels, 104-78.

“It’s payback time,” Richardson announced on television after UCLA had polished off an Iowa State team that ended its season 17-12.

Whether or not the Bruins have enough to overtake the Tar Heels remains to be determined in the 1:50 p.m., PST, game that will be televised by CBS, but they won rather easily against the Cyclones, who tied Oklahoma State for fourth place in the Big Eight.

The key to the victory?

As well as Richardson played, and Harrick described him as magnificent, it may have been a defensive adjustment by Harrick.

Victor Alexander, Iowa State’s 6-foot 9-inch, 255-pound center, burned the Bruins for 22 points and 13 rebounds but didn’t make a shot and scored only three points in the last 14 minutes 18 seconds.

The Bruins, Harrick said, stopped switching defensively underneath, instead utilizing a single defender on the wide-bodied Alexander.

Charles Rochelin fouled out, and Keith Owens picked up three fouls in 16 minutes, but those two, along with Don MacLean, bottled up Alexander when the Cyclones needed his offensive abilities the most.

“We got a little confused at times when we switched, which caused them to get some easy baskets,” said UCLA’s Trevor Wilson, who explained that the Bruins increased their defensive pressure after Alexander made two free throws with 8:14 left to give Iowa State a 60-59 lead.

Iowa State, which had trailed since the early moments of the game, missed four shots in a row after that, and UCLA scored 10 straight points.

A jump shot from the baseline by Darrick Martin gave UCLA the lead for good at 61-60, and the Bruins added a layup by Richardson, two free throws by Owens, another layup by Richardson and a layup by Rochelin, who took a pass from Richardson to make it 69-60 with 6:09 remaining.

“I thought we were very impatient on offense,” Iowa State’s Mike Born said. “We’d put up a shot, and they’d get the rebound and take it the other way. And if you’re playing 10 seconds of offense and 30 or 40 seconds of defense, it can wear you down.”

UCLA was outrebounded by the Cyclones, 42-30, but shot 57.4% while Iowa State shot only 43.1%.

MacLean led the Bruins with 23 points, making 11 of 16 shots, and Rochelin scored 16 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Wilson scored 14 points, including 10 in the second half, and led UCLA with 11 rebounds.

Mark Baugh had 16 points and nine rebounds for Iowa State, which played fast and loose with the ball and looked disorganized at times.

“We fumbled the ball more than I’ve ever seen,” Coach Johnny Orr said. “We couldn’t catch it or get it going. We couldn’t get coordinated. That was our worst performance in five or six weeks.”

Iowa State lost three of its top six players after the start of the season, including 6-5 forward Elmer Robinson, who was the Cyclones’ No. 2 scorer when he was declared academically ineligible in January.

The Cyclones, though, finished the season strong, beating seventh-ranked Missouri last month and losing to fourth-ranked Oklahoma on a last-second three-point shot last week in the semifinals of the Big Eight tournament.

“At the end of the year, I think we were playing as well as anybody in our league,” Orr had said Thursday. “It’s very satisfying to see a team come together and play as well as we have played.”

Or had played, anyway.

UCLA came into the tournament after losing to Stanford, 95-86, last Saturday.

But the Bruins started fast, using a 10-0 run to jump out to a 20-10 lead and later a 5-0 run to make it 31-18.

Iowa State rallied, though, outscoring the Bruins, 13-2, to cut its deficit to 37-35 before Rochelin, who made seven of 11 shots and scored 14 points in the first half, took a pass from Richardson and made an 18-foot jumper with four seconds left for a 39-35 UCLA lead at halftime.

Richardson had nine assists in the first half.

Alexander led Iowa State with 14 points and eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes, making five of nine shots and four of six free throws.

The Cyclones outrebounded the Bruins, 23-15, in the first half but made only 41.9% of their shots while UCLA hit 54.5%.

Iowa State finally caught up to the Bruins, 51-51, on a shot from the key by Adrian Moore with 12:03 left. They tied it again, 53-53, on a layup by Moore and finally took the lead on Alexander’s free throws.

Alexander, though, scored only one more point the rest of the way and was shut out after making a free throw with 5:55 left.

Had the lumbering Alexander simply run out of gas?

He’s a big guy, as the UCLA band noticed, serenading Alexander with chants of “Tub-by, Tub-by,” whenever he shot a free throw.

“He shouldn’t be fatigued,” Orr said. “There’s so many timeouts in these games that I don’t know how in the hell you’d ever get tired.”

Alexander, though, looked winded at the end.

Not so Richardson, who rarely comes out of the game for the Bruins, orchestrating almost everything they do.

“It’s been that way all year,” Harrick said. “He’s why we win.”

Bruin Notes

This was the fourth time Pooh Richardson had equaled the UCLA assist record, which he shares with Greg Lee, Andre McCarter and Roy Hamilton. Richardson, the Pacific 10 Conference’s all-time assist leader, last had 14 assists in a game Feb. 16 during a 93-86 loss to Arizona State. . . . In UCLA’s last 12 games, Richardson has 104 assists and only 19 turnovers, better than a 5-1 ratio. A ratio of 3-1 is considered by Coach Jim Harrick to be outstanding. Richardson had only one turnover against Iowa State.

UCLA, overwhelmed by North Carolina, 104-78, last Dec. 17 at Chapel Hill, N.C., has been beaten worse only three times in its history, including a 107-70 loss to the Tar Heels at Chapel Hill in 1985 and a 102-64 pounding by Arizona last month at Tucson. . . . UCLA has been outrebounded in each of its last five games and six of its last seven.

Harrick, on Iowa State’s sophomore center, Victor Alexander: “He’s as good as we’ve played. I really, really like him. In fact, he can come to UCLA if he wants. He’s the kind of low-post guy you really like.” . . . Freshman guard Darrick Martin had five assists and five steals for UCLA.