NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : UCLA, Murray Put Kansas on Ice : East Regional: Freshman’s free throws give Bruins a 71-70 victory over Jayhawks in the second round.

Watching television Sunday morning, UCLA’s Darrick Martin and Gerald Madkins heard a sportscaster say the Bruins had little chance to beat Kansas.

In fact, said Martin, the man on the screen said the Bruins would be blown out of the Omni by the fifth-ranked Jayhawks.

“We kind of looked at each other and said, ‘I don’t know about that,’ ” Martin said. “We really wanted to prove not only to ourselves but to the rest of the country that we were a respectable team.”

The Bruins proved it by upsetting Kansas, 71-70, in the second round of the NCAA tournament, getting the winning points from freshman Tracy Murray, who made two free throws with nine seconds left.

The victory moved UCLA into the East Regional semifinals, enabling the Bruins to advance past the second round for the first time since 1980, when they reached the championship game in which they lost to Louisville.

UCLA will play Duke Thursday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

Madkins told the TV prognosticator that it would happen.

Sort of, anyway.

“I walked up to the television and was pointing in his face,” Madkins said. “I said, ‘We’re going to blast them for you. We’re going to beat them.’ It was kind of stupid, but it’s crazy not to even give us a chance. We’re just as good as anybody in this country on a given day. That team was No. 1 for a long time. They’re going home and we’re going to New Jersey.”

Murray’s free throws sent the underdog Bruins on their way.

Thanks to an inspired defensive effort and the all-around excellence of Martin and forward Trevor Wilson, UCLA had stayed even with Kansas throughout the game, but the Bruins trailed, 70-69, after Kevin Pritchard of the Jayhawks made two free throws with 28 seconds left.

UCLA (22-10) called time out to set up a shot for Wilson, but when he was double-teamed in the lane, he dumped a bounce pass to freshman Mitchell Butler, whose layup sailed over the rim.

“I should have dunked,” said Butler, who instead overshot the basket as he floated toward the middle, attempting to create a better angle.

The ball glanced off the left side of the board toward Murray, who had beaten Pritchard to the basket and was in position for the rebound. But before he got to the ball, Murray was pushed from behind by Pritchard.

“He would have had a layup,” Pritchard said.

Instead, Murray went to the foul line for a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

Attempting to make the freshman more nervous, Kansas Coach Roy Williams called a timeout. Then, after the teams returned to the floor, Williams called another.

Murray emerged from the second with a grin on his face.

“I was a little nervous,” he said, “but I thought when they called those two timeouts, it was kind of funny.”

In an attempt to keep Murray loose, Wilson told the freshman an inside joke, which both declined to share with reporters.

“All I can tell you is, it wasn’t X-rated,” Murray said.

But it was effective.

Murray’s first shot bounced off the front of the rim and off the back before settling into the net.

The second swished.

Kansas quickly inbounded the ball to forward Rick Calloway, who brought it up the sideline and fired up a hurried jump shot from the left wing. Teammate Jeff Gueldner took the long rebound on the right side, but his off-balance shot at the buzzer fell far short.

“I wanted to go back to the middle, but Trevor did a good job of cutting it off,” Calloway said of Wilson, whose contributions also included 18 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and three assists. “The only place I could take it was up the sideline.”

Wilson shared the credit with Martin and Butler, whose defense kept the ball out of the hands of guards Pritchard and Gueldner.

“We wanted to get it in someone’s hands who was not really that familiar with bringing the ball up in that situation,” Wilson said. “I just tried to not let him get to the middle, where he could create more.”

The result brought a disappointing end to the Jayhawks’ season, which included several weeks as the nation’s No. 1 team, a 30-5 record and, until Sunday, no losses outside the Big Eight Conference.

“This is a feeling, because of the excellence of this team, I didn’t expect to have,” an emotional Williams told reporters. “These guys played their tails off.”

In the Jayhawks’ last game, though, so did the opposition.

“During the two timeouts (at the end), I told our kids that they really deserved to win the game,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said. “I thought we played our guts out and really outplayed a tremendous team.

“Our defense was excellent. We were down and really playing hard. Keeping them under 50% (shooting) was a key factor for us.”

Kansas, which led the nation with 53.3% shooting, made 48.1% of its shots, including only 41.7% in the second half. The quicker Bruins also forced Kansas into 22 turnovers, including seven by the usually reliable Pritchard, the senior point guard and a starter two years ago when the Jayhawks won the national championship.

“Coach told us to try to turn him as much as possible when he brought the ball up, and get him to keep turning his head back and forth,” Martin said. “We were able to do that and not let him get in sync. And when you get him off-balance, you put a wrench in their offense. That’s one reason why we were able to get into the passing lanes. He was a second too slow making his passes, and we were able to get a hand on the ball.”

And, ultimately, to get a handle on the Jayhawks.

Bruin Notes

UCLA’s Darrick Martin had 18 points, six assists and five steals and, said Coach Jim Harrick, was “magnificent” in the first 10 minutes of the second half, when UCLA built a nine-point lead. . . . In UCLA’s last three games, Trevor Wilson has averaged 23 points and 12.7 rebounds. . . . Gerald Madkins made only one shot, but it was a 23-footer from the top of the key that cut a four-point UCLA deficit to 68-67 with 1:22 remaining.

Don MacLean scored 10 points, but his shooting woes continued. UCLA’s leading scorer made only three of eight shots and has made only 14 of 45 in the Bruins’ last four games, including six of 22 in two NCAA games. . . . Kevin Pritchard and reserve guard Terry Brown scored 15 points each to lead Kansas.