UCLA Gets Offense Revved Up Again

UCLA, knocked off course in its previous two games by the two best defensive teams in the Pacific 10 Conference, righted itself Sunday against a more offensive-minded opponent.

The Bruins outgunned California, 98-81, before 6,829 at Pauley Pavilion.

“When the game gets completely opened up, they’ve got super athletes,” Cal Coach Lou Campanelli said. “It’s as simple as that. There’s no way to keep up with them for 40 minutes.”

Neither Arizona nor Stanford, winners over the seventh-ranked Bruins in the last 10 days, engaged in shootouts with UCLA.

Cal (6-9, 2-4) was more willing, sealing its doom early.

“I thought the game was lost, for all intents and purposes, in the first five minutes,” Campanelli said. “The tempo was entirely too fast. You had a team coming off a real whipping at the hands of Stanford.

“They were hungry.”

Hungry enough to devour the Bears, who had a huge bite taken out by Tracy Murray, Don MacLean and Gerald Madkins, who combined for 68 points.

If Campanelli thought he had seen this happen to him before, it was because he had. One year ago today, in a 106-97 UCLA victory over the Bears at Berkeley, the same Bruin trio combined for 72 points.

“You can only take away so many things defensively,” Campanelli said of the most recent game, “but we didn’t take away anything.”

UCLA, coming off its two worst shooting games of the season, returned to form by making 52.2% of its shots. Murray led the way, making five of six three-point attempts, nine of 11 overall and scoring 26 points.

MacLean scored 24 points, making seven of 13 shots and all nine of his free throws, and Madkins scored a season-high 18, also making seven of 13 shots, including three of eight from three-point range.

Madkins scored 16 points Wednesday night against Stanford.

Has Coach Jim Harrick spoken to him about shooting more?

“For about two years,” said Harrick, who at times has been exasperated by Madkins’ unselfishness. “I was tired of seeing him pump fake and pass. I wanted him to step up and shoot it. He’s an outstanding shooter.”

He’s not a bad passer, either. He had eight assists.

Madkins showed his versatility during a 20-8 second-half run by UCLA, which increased the Bruins’ lead to 77-58.

He assisted on a basket by Darrick Martin, sliced through the key for a bank shot, threw down a tomahawk dunk after making a steal, poured in a 23-foot shot from the wing, assisted on a basket by MacLean, made a three-point play after another steal and made another jumper.

All that was left after that was for the Bruins (14-3 overall, 3-2 in the Pac-10) to mop up.

“He’ll do anything I ask,” Harrick said of Madkins, who scored a career-high 20 points against Cal at Berkeley last season. “If I say, ‘Gerald, get assists,’ he’ll get assists. I say, ‘Gerald, play defense,’ he’ll play defense. I say, ‘Gerald, score,’ and I think he can.”

So can his teammates, especially in a wide-open game.

“We needed the game to be in the 70s,” Campanelli said. “The closer it gets to 100, the more you have to figure UCLA will win.”

UCLA’s lead was 46-40 at halftime, the Bruins putting together an 11-5 run at the end of the half after Cal outscored the Bruins, 13-2, capping the run with three three-point baskets to pull even at 35.

UCLA, which got 22 points from Murray in the first half, then stepped it up in the second half, making 55.6% of its shots.

UCLA Notes

UCLA’s Mitchell Butler picked up three fouls in the first 80 seconds and didn’t return until the second half. He had four points and two rebounds in nine minutes. . . . Keith Owens replaced Butler for the start of the second half and could remain as a starter. “I’m going to address that,” Coach Jim Harrick said. “It’s not that Mitchell’s done anything (wrong), it’s just the other guy (Owens) really makes us solid inside.”

Brian Hendrick had 17 points for Cal, 15 in the second half. . . . Cal’s Matt Lien, a transfer from Rancho Santiago College, had 11 points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes. That’s one more point and eight more rebounds than he had in three previous appearances this season. . . . UCLA is 26-1 against Cal at Pauley Pavilion. . . . Cal kept the tempo more to its liking last February, beating the Bruins in Los Angeles for the first time in 30 years, 79-71. . . . UCLA’s Shon Tarver made five of 11 shots and scored 11 points, reaching double figures for the first time in six games, only the second time in nine.

Don MacLean made a three-point shot in the first half, his first of the season. MacLean has made one three-pointer in each of his three seasons at UCLA. . . . UCLA, 10-10 on the road in Pac-10 play in 2 1/2 seasons under Harrick, will play its next three games away from home--at Oregon State Thursday night, at Oregon Saturday and at the Sports Arena against USC on Jan. 30.