UCLA Starts Late, Finishes Quickly, Beats UAB, 68-56

For the first time in 13 years, Gene Bartow’s pained expression returned to the sideline at a UCLA game Friday night.

The Alabama Birmingham coach, once in charge of the Bruins and first in a line of successors to John Wooden, watched as UCLA defeated his Blazers, 68-56, in the first round of the NCAA East Regional tournament.

UCLA overcame an 11-0 deficit start, a sluggish offensive effort and the ineffectiveness of Don MacLean to win before 10,742 at the Omni and move into the second round against fifth-ranked Kansas, which is seeded second and is unbeaten outside the Big Eight.

“It wasn’t a pretty game,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said, “but as a coach you don’t really worry about things like that.”

Especially at this point, when the only concern is winning and avoiding elimination from the tournament.

UCLA (21-10) will play Kansas (30-4) Sunday at the Omni.

UAB will make the two-hour bus ride back to Birmingham, where it will contemplate a dismal shooting performance.

“We just went cold,” Bartow said of the Blazers, whose 34.9% shooting was their worst of the season. Only Cal State Fullerton, which made only 31.4% of its attempts Dec. 23 in an 87-75 loss at Pauley Pavilion, has shot worse against the Bruins this season.

“Probably the big reason we didn’t shoot the ball well was because UCLA’s defense was very good,” said Bartow, who credited MacLean for keying the effort that stymied the Blazers. “The inside defensive play by MacLean was much better than I thought it would be.”

A 6-foot-10 sophomore with a soft shooting touch, MacLean has never been considered much of a defender. When Lou Campanelli of California benched MacLean last summer at the Olympic Sports Festival, he said it was because he found MacLean’s defensive effort wanting.

But, according to Bartow, MacLean enabled the Bruins to pressure UAB’s perimeter players by forcing 7-2 center Alan Ogg away from the basket.

“He doesn’t weigh all that much for how tall he is,” MacLean said of the 230-pound Ogg, who scored eight points. “And when I bumped him out, it seemed like his teammates didn’t want to give him the ball.”

Given no other choice, the Blazers (22-9) attempted to beat the Bruins from the outside, but made only five of 23 three-point shots while being harassed by Trevor Wilson, Gerald Madkins, Darrick Martin and Mitchell Butler.

Their leading scorer, swing man Andy Kennedy, scored only nine points, making just two of nine shots. Guards Jack Kramer and Barry Bearden combined for 18 points but made just seven of 26 shots.

UCLA wasn’t able to take control until the end because it had its own offensive problems. At one point, Harrick shouted: “What’s going on?”

The Bruins failed to score in their first nine possessions, missing six shots and making three turnovers in falling behind, 11-0.

“Certainly, our shot selection wasn’t perfect,” Harrick said. “We got in too much of a hurry. I want us to do it with patience and poise. You can’t beat a good team shooting shots that you’re not going to be able to make.”

Unless, of course, that team is shooting even worse.

“Even when we were down 11-0, I knew there was no way those guys were going to beat us,” MacLean said.

The Bruins put together an 8-0 run, caught the Blazers at 22-22 with 4:42 left in the half, took the lead at 28-27 on a free throw by Gerald Madkins with 1:07 left in the half and never trailed again.

“We couldn’t buy a basket for 10 minutes,” Bartow said.

UAB was within 58-54 with less than two minutes left before being outscored, 10-0. Martin fed Wilson for a dunk to spark the blitz, then made four consecutive free throws. MacLean added two more free throws and Butler capped the run with a dunk.

Wilson led the Bruins with 23 points and nine rebounds. MacLean struggled, making three of 14 shots.

Said MacLean, who seemed surprised to hear that Bartow had praised his defensive effort on Ogg: “It was something I started to think about when I couldn’t throw a pea into the ocean.”

Tracy Murray scored 14 points and took seven rebounds for the Bruins, and Martin had eight points and eight assists.

Bruin Notes

UCLA shot 42.6%. . . . UCLA’s Trevor Wilson called the officiating “the best I’ve seen in a while, especially coming from the Pac-10.” . . . UCLA is 7-0 against Kansas, but the teams have not played since 1978, when the Bruins won, 83-76, in an NCAA first-round game at Eugene, Ore. . . . Since 1980, when it lost in the championship game to Louisville, UCLA is 3-3 in the NCAA tournament and has not advanced beyond the second round . . . UCLA Coach Jim Harrick is 3-5 in NCAA tournament games, 2-1 in two seasons with the Bruins. . . . Reserve guard Kevin Williams of UCLA stayed home for the funeral of a cousin. . . . UCLA’s Zan Mason turned his right ankle in practice Thursday night and was unavailable to play, Harrick said. . . .Tracy Murray turned an ankle and left the game with 1:55 left . . . Only Arizona State, beaten by the Bruins, 62-53, on Jan. 11, has scored fewer points against UCLA this season . . . UCLA failed to make a three-point shot for only the second time this season, missing all five attempts. . . . Reserve forward Elbert Rogers led UAB with 11 points.