Bruins’ Home Never Was Less Sweet : College basketball: Boos cascade over Harrick, UCLA players in 104-82 loss to Cal, their worst defeat at Pauley Pavilion.

How well did California play Sunday against UCLA?

“They were brilliant,” said Bruin Coach Jim Harrick. “Everything they did was outstanding, unbelievably outstanding.”

UCLA’s performance was on a somewhat lower level, but equally unbelievable. Cal’s Bears, coming off a two-point loss at USC, beat the Bruins, 104-82, before a near-sellout crowd of 12,563.

It was UCLA’s worst defeat at Pauley Pavilion, easily surpassing DePaul’s 84-68 victory there in the 1983-1984 season.

That thud you probably will hear today is UCLA dropping out of the Associated Press’ top 25 for the first time in 35 months. The sound you heard Sunday inside Pauley was boos, usually reserved for the other team, but not this time.

Suffice to say, Bruin fans did not suffer gladly the occasion of Cal’s second victory in 29 games at Pauley. No, it was treated more like some sort of disaster at a building where, in the previous 444 games it housed, only twice had any team scored more points against the Bruins.

There were a couple of contributing factors to UCLA’s loss, namely rebounding and defense--or lack of same. They stimulated the more vocal critics in the stands to offer their opinions of the game to Harrick and his players.

Harrick was asked if he heard the boos.

“Nah,” he said.

But Ed O’Bannon did. O’Bannon, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, said it probably wouldn’t hurt if people would remove themselves from Harrick’s back.

“People take him for granted,” O’Bannon said. “Coach Harrick, I think, is a wonderful human being. To see his own people boo when he makes a decision is very hard to deal with.

“It’s their decision. I can’t do anything about it. I feel Coach Harrick is doing a great job. He’s a strong man. I think he’ll be OK, but it could affect anyone. He’s human.

“Stop and think of what he’s done since he’s been here. If the fans stand behind him as much as his players, they’ll understand what’s going on.

“I’m not criticizing the fans. They’re great people. They’re fun to play in front of. But it’s like UCLA versus everyone else out there because beating us makes their season . . . and it’s tough.”

Maybe, but everybody looks pretty tough when they’re getting shots so close to the basket the rim looks like their hat. The Cal front line of Alfred Grigsby, Brian Hendrick and Lamond Murray made 26 of 35 shots and combined for 64 points.

That would have been bad enough, but then there was Jason Kidd. The much-heralded 6-foot-4 freshman, who got lost in the slow-down two-point loss at USC, obviously thrived in the open-court, transition situation presented by the Bruins.

Harrick was asked about the pace: “I didn’t mind that pace, but maybe it was the wrong one. . . . I don’t know.”

Kidd knew. He seemed to be everywhere at once--11 points, eight rebounds, six assists, six steals--and nearly single-handedly turned the game around during a 17-0 Cal run midway through the first half.

UCLA went scoreless for 4 1/2 minutes from the time Cal led, 31-29. At 37-29, Kidd came up with consecutive steals and consecutive offensive rebounds after missed free throws.

While the Bruins were busy making six turnovers, Kidd led Cal on a merry chase to the basket and a 48-29 lead with 4:45 to play in the half.

“We knew that good things were going to happen,” said Kidd. “I just wanted to get people involved in the game. That’s all I wanted to do. People were saying I’m not shooting the ball well, but I’m not trying to score 25 points a game.”

Said Cal Coach Lou Campanelli: “Jason had total domination of the game, total control of the game.”

It was obvious the Bruins didn’t. The big problem might have been merely getting the ball. Cal had 21 offensive rebounds to win on the backboards, 39-33. That bothered Harrick enough to bench starting center Richard Petruska for the second half until the last two minutes when UCLA was behind, 98-79.

Petruska finished with two rebounds in 12 minutes. Backup center Rodney Zimmerman blocked four shots, but had two rebounds in 13 minutes.

“The guy (Petruska) is 6-10 and has one rebound in the first half,” Harrick said. “He has got to rebound the ball a little bit.”

By halftime, Cal led by 16 points. With 18 minutes to play, UCLA trailed by 18. With nine minutes to go, it was 20. It got uglier and uglier for UCLA.

The defending Pac-10 champions fell to 3-3 in conference and 12-5 overall. Cal is 9-4, 3-2.

O’Bannon said the whole experience was not exactly uplifting.

“It’s very disappointing to have that type of crowd and have that type of game,” he said. “But we’re strong enough to rebound back.”

Bruin Notes

Freshman Cal guard Jerod Haase played Sunday despite the death of his father Saturday morning in Woodland. Gary Haase died after being hospitalized for an infection in his foot. Jerod decided not to fly to the family home in South Lake Tahoe until after the game Sunday. “He’s one courageous kid,” said Cal Coach Lou Campanelli. Haase played 30 minutes against UCLA and scored 16 points.