UCLA Beats Louisville on Second-Half Surge

It didn’t take a wizard, or even a disciple of the Wizard of Westwood, to understand how UCLA defeated Louisville so handily, 78-64, Sunday.

After halftime, most of the Bruins’ shots were layups.

Most of Louisville’s were from long range over a zone.

UCLA made 79.2% of its shots during the second half, Louisville made only 38.2% and the second-ranked Bruins beat the Cardinals in Freedom Hall for the first time in five attempts.

So thorough was UCLA’s dominance in the second half, during which the Cardinals missed all seven of their three-point attempts, that many in the sellout crowd of 19,466 left early.

Among those who stayed was a man who begged for mercy.

“Come on, show some class,” he angrily called out to UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, who didn’t clear his bench until the final minute.

By then, UCLA had wrapped up its 15th victory in 16 games, at least easing the sting of Wednesday’s 86-82 loss to USC.

The 24th-ranked Cardinals fell to 12-6.

A young, inexperienced team, with three first-year players in its starting lineup and four among its top six scorers, Louisville might be in danger of failing to make the NCAA tournament field for a second consecutive season.

But the Cardinals started well Sunday, taking an 11-2 lead, and still led, 29-24, before UCLA ended the first half with an 8-0 run.

Louisville made 56% of its shots during the first half, exploiting the Bruins’ major weakness, interior defense, for layup after layup.

But, facing a zone after halftime, the Cardinals crumbled.

“We showed we were capable of playing with them for a half, but we had a real tough time attacking their zone,” said Louisville Coach Denny Crum, an assistant to former UCLA Coach John Wooden during the Bruins’ heyday.

“We just couldn’t get the ball in the dang basket. It didn’t matter who shot, it didn’t go in. When you shoot that badly, it’s really frustrating.

“The other thing that hurt us really badly was, we didn’t get back on defense when we were attacking the zone.”

As a result, the Bruins continually beat them down the floor.

UCLA made its first six shots after halftime to take a 49-40 lead, missed five of its next six as Louisville pulled to within 51-48, then made its last 12 shots.

The Bruins didn’t miss a shot in the last nine minutes.

Said Harrick: “It can happen if you execute your offense and shoot good, open shots out of the framework of your offense.”

Or if you shoot mostly layups.

Of UCLA’s 19 second-half baskets, all but eight were layups.

“That’s our game--running,” said UCLA guard Darrick Martin, who probably had the most unusual line of his career: 18 minutes, 10 assists, five fouls. “When we do that, you saw what we can do. We shot (almost) 80%. We have that type of athlete. I’ll take the athletes we have against anybody in the country and let us run. When we run, we can’t be beat.”

Not by Louisville, at least.

“They were trying to methodically take us apart and get it inside,” UCLA guard Gerald Madkins said of the Cardinals, whose passivity irritated their fans. “We were just rolling on them, basically.

“You don’t typically run well out of a zone, but we did because they sent five people to the (offensive) boards and didn’t have too many people back (to defend against UCLA’s transition game). A four-on-one or four-on-two is just great for us. We’ll cash in on those eight out of 10 times.”

Don MacLean, bothered by Louisville’s aggressiveness in the first half, was six for six and scored 16 of his 25 points after halftime.

Bruin Notes

Mitchell Butler had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers, and probably will be starting in place of struggling center Rodney Zimmerman, Coach Jim Harrick said. Zimmerman, who played 13 minutes, has not scored and has four rebounds while playing 28 minutes in the last three games.

UCLA and Louisville are not scheduled to play next season for the first time in 11 years. The series resumes at Pauley Pavilion during the 1993-94 season. . . . Tracy Murray, two for nine at halftime, was four for four in the second half and finished with 17 points.