UCLA Doesn’t Give Itself Break, but Wins : College basketball: Cal, without Hendrick, starts four freshmen, but the Bruins have a tough time.

With several potentially demanding games upcoming--against Stanford on Thursday night, Notre Dame on Saturday, USC on Feb. 27 and top-ranked Duke on March 1--UCLA probably could have used a day off Tuesday.

A game against California figured to be only slightly more taxing, considering that UCLA beat Cal by 20 points last month.

And, in the rematch, the beleaguered Golden Bears were without their best player, injured forward Brian Hendrick, but Cal gave UCLA all it could handle before the Bruins won, 82-76, against a team that relied almost exclusively on freshmen.

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick had taken exception last week when former Bruin All-American Bill Walton told a national television audience that the second-ranked Bruins lacked a killer instinct.

“I don’t know that Bill Walton knows everything about basketball,” Harrick said. “He never coached a team in his life. He has a lot of good insights into the game, but not everything he says is gospel.”

But Walton’s words were prophetic.

UCLA never trailed in the last 29 minutes, but its lead was only 71-70 with five minutes left. The Bruins didn’t wrap up the victory, their 20th in 21 games overall and 11th in 12 Pacific 10 Conference games, until the final minute, when Cal missed its last two shots.

Despite outshooting the Bruins, 56.9% to 46.4%, and generally outplaying them, Cal fell to 8-13 and 2-9.

The Bears are tied for ninth place in the conference race.

“I didn’t enjoy it very much,” Harrick said of the game. “Sometimes, these things happen. They shot 57%, but they were mostly layups. I didn’t like the effort. We’ll just take the win.”

Cal could have used it.

The young Bears had lost seven of their previous nine games before Hendrick was injured early in Saturday’s 92-66 loss to Stanford. Hendrick will be out for the season because of a dislocated right knee.

“The timing couldn’t be worse,” Coach Lou Campanelli said before the game. “We’re coming into L.A., where the two L.A. teams are probably the best they’ve ever been, collectively--at least since I’ve been here.

“We’ve just got to do the best job we can with these kids and give them a chance to be competitive. But I know when Brian was carried off the court, it was a tremendous letdown. You could see it in their faces. It was sad for Brian, but it was also sad for the other guys.”

Campanelli considered starting five freshmen against the Bruins, but used four instead, along with senior guard Bill Elleby.

The youngsters hardly blinked, taking an 11-9 lead before Harrick, unhappy with what he had seen, replaced four of his starters.

Led by Darrick Martin, who fed MacLean for a jumper and a dunk and then made a three-point shot, UCLA put together a 7-0 run to move ahead, 16-13, but Murray kept the Bears close until UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon sparked a spurt that helped the Bruins pull away.

In by far his most impressive stint of the season, O’Bannon scored nine points in less than two minutes, throwing down a dunk, making a running jumper from about 12 feet out, tipping in a missed shot and arching a shot from beyond the top of the key for his first three-point basket.

The Bruins outscored Cal, 22-8, to open a 43-30 lead.

Cal made 63.6% of its shots in the first half, with freshman Lamond Murray making five of six and freshman Alfred Grigsby four of five, but UCLA led at halftime, 46-37.

Cal rallied and trailed by only 71-70 with five minutes left.

The Bears never got closer.

Bruin Notes

A UCLA cheerleader, injured during a routine late in the game, had to be carried from the court, delaying the game for about five minutes. UCLA officials refused to release her name. . . . In a pregame ceremony, Don MacLean was presented with a basketball commemorating his UCLA scoring record. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose record MacLean broke, was unable to attend, but called MacLean from a car phone about 30 minutes earlier. . . . Cal’s Brian Hendrick, scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee today in Berkeley, averaged 19.5 points and 13 rebounds in the six games before he was injured last Saturday. . . . Cal is 1-27 at Pauley Pavilion. . . . Cal’s Alfred Grigsby, with 19 points, and UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon, with 11, both scored season highs.