COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : UCLA to Face a Better Indiana Than in Opener : West final: Bruins scored an 87-72 victory over the Hoosiers in November, but they were playing without Reynolds.

Indiana guard Chris Reynolds planned to red-shirt this season to work on his offense, but the season opener Nov. 15 in Springfield, Mass., changed his mind.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, sitting on the sidelines and watching UCLA pound us,” Reynolds said of the Bruins’ 87-72 victory over Indiana in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic. “After that game, I sat next to Coach (Bob Knight) on the way home, and he talked about me playing.”

A junior, Reynolds was in the lineup for Indiana’s next game.

His return is only one of several improvements that have been made by the Hoosiers, who will play UCLA again today in the the West Regional final at the Pit.

But has Indiana (26-6) closed the gap enough to deny the Bruins (28-4) their first trip to the Final Four since 1980?

“I walked away from that first game thinking that UCLA was a much, much better team than we were,” Knight said. “I said then, ‘Here’s a hell of a basketball team.’

“If there’s still that kind of differential between the teams, then this game isn’t going to be any better for us than that one.”

UCLA fell behind in Springfield, 25-14. At the suggestion of assistant Steve Lavin, who knew Indiana’s personnel from three seasons as an assistant at Purdue, Coach Jim Harrick went to a smaller, quicker lineup and UCLA ran away from the Hoosiers.

The Bruins outscored Indiana during the rest of the half, 34-11, putting together runs of 7-0, 6-0, 10-0 and 6-0 for a 48-36 halftime lead.

They opened the second half with a 9-2 run, never led by fewer than 11 points thereafter and wound up shooting 55.9%.

“Their guards killed us,” Indiana guard Damon Bailey said. “They were a lot quicker than we were. We didn’t really have anybody who could stay with them. They penetrated on us way too much.

“That’s something we’re going to have to stop, this game. If we let them do that to us again, they’re just going to drill us again.”

Indiana forward Calbert Cheaney, who is averaging 17.7 points, was hardly a factor against the defense of Gerald Madkins, missing seven of nine shots and scoring only eight points before Knight sat him down for about the last 10 minutes of the game.

“He was trying to send me a message that I wasn’t competing,” Cheaney said. “I didn’t move very well. I didn’t do a lot of things well.”

Knight has questioned the competitive nature of his entire team, and he was especially upset when Indiana was defeated by Purdue, 61-59, in its last regular-season game. A victory would have given the Hoosiers a share of the Big Ten championship.

“We didn’t play with any heart,” Reynolds said. “When the games got tight, we just crumbled. Guys just shied away from the ball. Everybody wanted to win very badly, but we didn’t play like it.”

The defeat by Purdue united the Hoosiers, Reynolds said.

“Now, we’re really helping each other on the court,” he said. “We’re talking and communicating. We’ve really come together.”

They shot less than 38% in their last three Big Ten games, but the Hoosiers have shot 55.7% in the NCAA tournament.

Their opponents have shot 41.7%.

Cheaney is averaging 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds for the tournament. Eric Anderson has made 15 of 21 shots and is averaging 16.3 points. Freshman Alan Henderson, who had 20 points and eight rebounds against UCLA in his debut, is averaging 15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the team we beat in Springfield, although they’re better, we can beat again,” Madkins said. “It’s going to take a hell of an effort--we can’t have any lapses--but I think we’re pretty doggone good.”

Bruin Notes

Fourth-ranked UCLA has made it to the round of eight without beating a team ranked among the top 25 in the final Associated Press poll. . . . Fifth-ranked Indiana defeated No. 25 Louisiana State in a second-round game and No. 20 Florida State in a West Regional semifinal. . . . UCLA has lost only once, to DePaul in 1979, in 15 regional final appearances.