Bruins Survive Sun Devils’ Stall : UCLA: Arizona State tries walking strategy, but Harrick’s club is never seriously threatened and wins, 62-53.

Between Louisville and Arizona for UCLA there was boredom.

Apparently convinced that it didn’t have the manpower to compete in an up-tempo game with UCLA, Arizona State attempted Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion to bore the Bruins into beating themselves.

But only the crowd of 8,681 was lulled to sleep as the Bruins withstood the Sun Devils’ slowdown tactics for a 62-53 victory.

“As a basketball team, you’ve got to play fast, you’ve got to play medium and you’ve got to play slow,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said afterward, making it abundantly clear that he strongly prefers medium and fast.

What did he think of the Sun Devils’ passive strategy?

“Not much,” he said.

In Harrick’s opinion, the Sun Devils “never went after the win. . . . I thought they would, at least in the last seven (or) eight minutes, try to come out and shoot and try to up the tempo a little bit.”

Instead, they continued to spread the floor and continued to wait almost until the shot clock had expired before attempting to score.

“That’s an awful way to have to play,” said an apologetic ASU Coach Bill Frieder, who believed that he had no other choice. “It’s pathetic. I can’t stand it. But, unfortunately, you’re going to have to watch it for a while because it’s the best way these guys can hang in the game.”

ASU (8-5) had won eight of its previous nine games, losing only to No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Kansas in the last month.

But Thursday night the Sun Devils were without their No. 2 scorer, guard Matt Anderson, who injured his right knee last Saturday night against Washington and underwent arthroscopic surgery Monday to repair torn cartilage.

Without him, ASU relied almost entirely on forward Alex Austin, who responded to the task by matching a career-high 31 points.

“We’re just not a good scoring team,” Frieder said.

ASU also started the game without its No. 3 scorer, center Isaac Austin, who was benched because Frieder found his effort to be wanting.

Austin eventually made it into the game, as did UCLA center Kevin Walker, benched in favor of former walk-on Keith Owens.

Walker, who had made 42 consecutive starts for the Bruins, was called upon 6 1/2 minutes into the game, after Owens picked up two quick fouls and Owens’ replacement, Tracy Murray, hobbled off with a hyper-extended knee.

Murray returned later in the half, apparently none the worse.

Meanwhile, the tempo of the game had been established.

And it was S-L-O-W.

The Sun Devils, neither as deep nor as talented as the Bruins, spread the floor offensively and worked patiently for their shots.

Maybe too patiently.

Each time they got around to looking at the basket, it seemed, the shot clock was about to expire and they had to fire up a hurried shot.

Still, they trailed only 26-19 at halftime despite making only six of 24 shots, including only four of 18 inside the three-point line.

It was 19-19 with less than three minutes left in the half before the Bruins, who ran at seemingly every opportunity, put together a 7-0 spurt that included a steal and layup by guard Darrick Martin.

Martin accentuated the play by throwing his fist into the air, nearly decking a Bruin cheerleader, and then kicking a megaphone. In the first half, it was more exciting than anything that happened on the court.

The game didn’t get any more exciting in the second half, which proceeded at the same slow pace, UCLA never leading by less than five points.

“It makes for not a very attractive game, and it certainly wasn’t,” Harrick said, “but it’s in the right column.”

For UCLA, that meant an improvement to 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference, pulling the 19th-ranked Bruins into a tie for the conference lead with Oregon State, which was idle.

Trevor Wilson led the Bruins with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Don MacLean had 12 points and 10 rebounds, but made only four of 13 shots after making four of 10 and scoring a season-low nine points Sunday at Louisville.

Martin had 10 points and six assists and, given the opportunity, did his best to keep the crowd entertained, megaphones be damned.

Bruin Notes

Keith Owens, who had four points, four fouls and one rebound in 17 minutes, will start at center again Saturday against Arizona, Coach Jim Harrick said. “He firms us up defensively in the middle a little bit,” Harrick said. . . . Tracy Murray, Harrick said, will continue to be the Bruins’ No. 1 front-line reserve. “I like him coming off (the bench),” Harrick said. “He gives our team a great lift and I hope he can continue to do that.” . . . Kevin Walker played 12 minutes, missing his only two shots and scoring one point.

Neither Harrick nor ASU’s Bill Frieder saw the logic in NCAA legislation passed this week that, starting in the 1992-93 season, will restrict teams to 25 regular-season games, three less than they are presently allowed. “We’ve got too many people thinking they’ve got to change rules every year,” Frieder said. The rule was designed to cut the amount of time players spend on basketball, but won’t the teams practice on the days when they otherwise might have had games? Harrick said that UCLA faces what amounts to a must-win situation Saturday against Arizona. “I don’t think any team can afford to lose to a contending team at home and expect to win the league,” Harrick said.

Harrick on Arizona center Brian Williams: “He’s certainly not Alonzo Mourning, but he’s a pretty good player.” ESPN’s Dick Vitale named Williams as the first-team center on his preseason All-American team, ahead of Georgetown’s Mourning. . . . Harrick, on Louisville’s play in last Sunday’s 97-80 rout of UCLA: “They just played a phenomenal game. They just beat us up. Louisville would have beaten any team in America Sunday.”

ASU’s Frieder, commenting on the differences between Arizona State and Michigan, told the Ann Arbor News: “What was that they used to say, nine out of 10 women in Michigan are beautiful, and the other one goes to Michigan? Well, we’ve got the other nine out here. And that doesn’t hurt recruiting, either.”