This Dance Partner May Want to Lead : UCLA: Bruins waltzed past Robert Morris, but Louisville will step up the pressure.

The value of a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament was evident Friday night in UCLA’s 73-53 victory over Robert Morris.

The Bruins showed that, against a No. 16 seeded team, it is possible to waltz through a half and still win a tournament game by 20 points.

A more sustained effort probably will be required today when UCLA (26-4) plays No. 8-seeded Louisville (19-10) in a second-round West Regional game at the University Activity Center.

Louisville overwhelmed Wake Forest in the first round, 81-58, shooting 56% while limiting the Deamon Deacons to 36.7%, their worst of the season.

“We can’t play any better,” Coach Denny Crum said.

An inexperienced team, with four first-year players among its top seven scorers, Louisville has struggled in playing its usual rugged schedule. But the Cardinals are better now, Crum said, than they were on Feb. 2, when they lost to UCLA, 78-64, at Louisville.

“We’re better equipped to handle a little adversity,” Crum said. “The young guys have been through a full season now. We’ve seen most everything there is to see. We’re playing with more confidence.

“It doesn’t guarantee anything, obviously, but we’re pleased with where we are. We feel good about the opportunity to play UCLA again.”

This is Louisville’s worst shooting team in 21 seasons under Crum. It is a weakness that was exploited by the Bruins last month.

After Louisville made 10 of its first 16 shots against UCLA’s man-to-man defense, opening a 21-13 lead about 12 minutes into the game, the Bruins switched to a 2-3 zone and watched the Cardinals collapse.

Forced to attack from the perimeter, Louisville missed 26 of its last 43 shots, failed on all 10 of its three-point attempts and was outscored, 65-43, the rest of the way.

UCLA’s Darrick Martin said the Cardinals looked scared.

“When we went to a zone, they had a couple of open shots, but they seemed timid,” Martin said. “They weren’t aggressive at all.”

Intent on at least going after the rebounds, the Cardinals made matters worse by failing to get back on defense. UCLA continually beat them for layups, making 79.2% of its shots after halftime.

The Bruins made their first six shots of the second half to take a 49-40 lead, missed five of six as Louisville pulled to within 51-48, then made their last last 12, not missing any shots in the last nine minutes.

But Crum doesn’t expect that to happen again today.

“Tulane beat us on our floor, too, and then we went to their place and beat them by 15,” he said. “A lot of times when someone has beaten you, it will get you focused. It has nothing to do with revenge. You know it’s going to be tough because they’ve already beaten you, so you focus in.

“It’s a question of turning it around. We’ve got to execute and do a lot of things well (to beat UCLA), but we’re capable.”

His young players have learned to attack zones, Crum said.

“It took us awhile, but we’re doing a much better job,” he said. “Most of the teams that played us in a zone, we’ve blown them out of it.”

The Cardinals remained inconsistent, however. They finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Metro Conference, with a 7-5 record, before losing to Virginia Commonwealth, 74-65, at Louisville in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

They have eight victories against teams that made the NCAA tournament, including one against Kansas, 85-78, at Lawrence, Kan.

“Louisville is no slouch,” UCLA captain Gerald Madkins said. “Any team with a lot of (talented) athletes is dangerous. They’re so unpredictable. If they go out and play intelligently, we could be in trouble.”

The Bruins’ No. 1 seeding won’t help them this time. Crum said it might hurt.

“The good part for our team is that, obviously we’re not going to be the favorite,” Crum said. “For some reason, our team plays better when we’re not supposed to win. So, from my perspective, we’re where we want to be.

“We’re not under any pressure. They’re the ones under pressure. We’re in a good position. An underdog role is what you want in this tournament.”

Not always. It didn’t help Robert Morris.

Bruin Notes

Louisville has shot 47.7%. . . . The Cardinals’ leading scorer is Dwayne Morton, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward who is averaging 13.9 points. Senior guard Everick Sullivan is averaging 13.8 points. Cornelius Holden, a 6-7 senior forward from Crenshaw High, is averaging 9.2 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds.

During UCLA’s 78-64 victory over Louisville last month, Don MacLean led the Bruins with 25 points; Morton led Louisville with 15 points. . . . UCLA is 10-5 against Louisville, 3-1 in postseason games, including a 59-54 loss to the Cardinals in the championship game of the NCAA tournament in 1980. . . . MacLean needs two points to replace Arizona’s Sean Elliott as the Pacific 10 Conference’s all-time scoring leader.

Describing it as “ugly,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said of the Bruins’ first-round victory over Robert Morris: “When we’re not an aggressive team, we don’t perform quite as well.” Against Louisville, Harrick said, “We certainly need to be aggressive the whole game. We’ve got to play two halves.” . . . For UCLA’s first game against Louisville, Rodney Zimmerman and Shon Tarver were starters. They since have been replaced by Mitchell Butler, who had 10 points and five rebounds against the Cardinals, and Tyus Edney.