O’Bannon Is Lost in Space; Harrick Finds Him in Time : College basketball: Coach awakens awed sophomore, who then leads UCLA back from a 10-point deficit in 68-63 defeat of Georgia.

An in-his-face lecture from Coach Jim Harrick helped UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon find himself Saturday in the Georgia Dome.

Until then, O’Bannon had been lost in the spacious stadium.

“I was in awe of the place,” O’Bannon said of the four-month-old facility, which will play host to basketball competition during the 1996 Olympic Games. “I was pretty much in awe of being in a dome and I wasn’t into the game like I thought I would be. . . .

“Coach got into me during a timeout and let me have it, and from then on, I kind of woke up and realized I was in Atlanta playing basketball.”

O’Bannon scored 21 of his personal-best 24 points thereafter in helping the 13th-ranked Bruins overcome a 10-point deficit in the last 27 minutes of a 68-63 victory over Georgia.

What had Harrick said?

“ ‘Stop trying to look pretty, stop looking around and play basketball,’ ” said O’Bannon, who made nine of 18 shots, including several dunks, and also had personal bests of 13 rebounds and four assists.

Said Harrick, who got victory No. 100 in his fifth season as UCLA’s coach: “Sometimes, you just have to get their attention.”

Georgia (2-4) got the Bruins’ attention, opening a 28-18 lead before what remained of a crowd of 28,885, about half of whom left after Georgia Tech defeated Louisville, 87-85, in the first game of the doubleheader.

UCLA (6-1) used an 8-0 run at the start of the second half to take a 39-36 lead, but Georgia rallied and led, 57-56, before assistant coach Mark Gottfried persuaded Harrick to use a 2-3 zone against the Bulldogs.

“It didn’t catch us by surprise,” Georgia Coach Hugh Durham said of the defensive switch. “We just didn’t react well to it. I think it’s enough said to say we didn’t score as easily as we did against their man-to-man.”

To say the least.

The Bulldogs made only one of their last nine shots, missing their final seven after center Charles Claxton, who had season highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds, banked in a jumper from the key with 6:44 to play.

“They just went cold,” Harrick said. “I don’t think it was a particularly great zone defense, but sometimes early in the year it’s hard to play against a zone.”

UCLA took the lead for good, 64-62, when center Richard Petruska made a short bank shot with 2:35 remaining.

Georgia had a chance to pull even during its last possession, but guard Bernard Davis took a hurried three-point shot that missed and was rebounded by O’Bannon, who passed to Shon Tarver for a dunk.

Afterward, Durham had kind words for O’Bannon, the sophomore from Lakewood who during the first month of the season has shown that he has recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him during the 1990-91 season and reduced him to a bit player behind Don MacLean and Tracy Murray last season.

“You really have to take your hat off to a guy like that because he worked and he worked and he paid the price,” Durham said. “It’s easy to work when you’re rewarded right away, but when you’re not rewarded and you have to sit down (and wait) . . . I think it’s more of a compliment.

“So, when you ask what I think of him, I think of him as a really good player who must have some inner toughness in him, too.”

Bruin Notes

UCLA might return to the Georgia Dome next season. Raycom and ESPN are trying to put together “The Great Eight,” two midweek doubleheaders that would be played in large arenas during the first week of the season and feature college basketball’s most storied programs. UCLA, Indiana, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Georgetown have been mentioned as possible participants. . . . Kendall Rhine, Georgia’s leading scorer, had another forgettable game against UCLA, missing all six shots and scoring three points. Last season, during an 87-80 loss at Pauley Pavilion, Rhine fouled out after playing only 11 minutes.