Slow-Starting Bruins Leave Huskies in Haze : College basketball: UCLA expected to climb in rankings after 82-62 rout, but awaits tougher Arizona this week.

To end a foggy weekend in the Pacific Northwest, UCLA put the muzzle on the Washington Huskies and returned home Saturday night to wait for the new wire service rankings to come out today.

And after dropping an 82-62 defeat on the Huskies at Edmundson Pavilion, the No. 5-ranked Bruins are looking at some fairly impressive numbers.

UCLA is 11-0, 4-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference, and probably on its way to at least a No. 3 ranking in the polls, because North Carolina and Duke lost last week.

Coach Jim Harrick tempered his enthusiasm.

“If we’re No. 3, that’s fine,” Harrick said. “We play it off at the end of the year, so it really doesn’t matter.”

Nothing’s wrong with being No. 3, Charles O’Bannon said, if that’s what the Bruins actually become.

“It’s an honor, but we still haven’t accomplished anything in the conference,” he said.

Maybe so, but the Bruins get a chance for the real thing Thursday night against Arizona at Pauley Pavilion.

Charles O’Bannon did not hesitate when asked if UCLA was playing well enough to face Arizona.

“I don’t think there’s a team in the country playing better than us right now,” he said. “I mean, we haven’t lost a game.”

And it wasn’t bound to happen against the Huskies. UCLA started soft, but scored 50 points in the second half to win in a breeze.

George Zidek had his biggest game as a Bruin, with 21 points in 23 minutes. Zidek also had nine rebounds.

Ed O’Bannon had 22 points for UCLA and Tyus Edney had 14 points and four assists against a 2-11 Washington team.

So how glad were the Bruins to see the Huskies? UCLA wanted to get here so badly, the team took an eight-hour, cross-state bus ride from Pullman and arrived Friday night.

It would have been a much smoother trip if the Bruins’ flight hadn’t been canceled because of fog.

As for the ride itself, well, it had its moments.

“It was interesting,” said Ed O’Bannon Sr., who made the trip with his wife, Madeline, to watch their sons.

Meanwhile, the younger O’Bannons probably were downright overjoyed with matching up against the Huskies, a team in transition that apparently isn’t aware of it yet.

New Coach Bob Bender has been unsuccessfully trying to coax his team into playing a running game for the first time.

It didn’t seem to matter much in the first half, which ended with UCLA ahead by 12 points, probably because the Bruins weren’t doing much running either.

In fact, there’s something else they weren’t doing--scoring. At one point in the first half, UCLA had 10 points and eight rebounds.

“Lethargic,” Harrick said.

Until Charles O’Bannon’s driving layup 12 minutes into the game, the Bruins had only 10 points. The only good thing was that Washington had only nine.

Ed O’Bannon and Zidek had 10 points at the half, and the Bruins survived 13 turnovers to lead, mainly because the Huskies--the worst-shooting, lowest-scoring team in the Pac-10--missed 20 of their 25 shots.

But UCLA scored on its first eight possessions of the second half, got a nice job from Cameron Dollar in short relief at point guard and pulled away in a hurry.

The only real drama in the second half came when the O’Bannons collided and hit the floor beneath the Washington basket. Ed drew a charge and fell backward into an airborne Charles, who landed awkwardly on his left elbow.

Charles O’Bannon said his arm and fingers were numb, but he was all right by the time he walked off the court. Until then, he didn’t feel so great.

“It was scary,” he said. “Lying there, I just thought about not playing for the rest of the season. . . .. . Some people break bones and they’re out for the year.”

Said Harrick: “Here you’ve got two O’Bannons sprawled out, Holy Toledo!”

Ed O’Bannon stayed in the game and played the entire second half except the last 30 seconds. Charles returned for the last five minutes.

It was all over by then, anyway. The only thing left was to wait for the new poll to come in, followed by Arizona.