Johnson Finally Gets to Throw Weight Around

The Kris Johnson of UCLA’s dreams showed up Saturday afternoon, without a towel on his head, without that extra 45 pounds on his body, and with a floating, fade-away jumper that raised a knowing grin from a man in the stands who used to do that kind of stuff too.

Against a California team aching to continue its Pauley Pavilion dominance, Johnson made his mark in UCLA’s biggest game so far this season, even if he didn’t match his father.

Johnson, whose previous career high was 17 points, scored a team season-high 36 points, including 25 in the first half, leading UCLA to an emotional, 93-73 victory over archrival California before 12,881 at Pauley Pavilion.

The victory ended Cal’s three-game winning streak at Pauley, extended the Bruins’ current victory run to nine in a row, and gave UCLA (11-3, 4-0 in conference play) the sole lead in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Cal fell to 8-4 and 3-1.

Johnson, who fell one point short of his father’s career high--former Bruin All-American Marques scored 37, also against Cal, in 1977--said he couldn’t resist checking out his father’s reaction during one particularly delightful moment Saturday.

“I had [Cal guard] Ed Gray on my hip, and I was doing that NBA yo-yo dribble, and I shot the fade-away and it was all net,” Johnson said. “That’s when it was, ‘OK, everything’s going for me tonight.’

“I looked up to my dad, and he gave me that ‘good job’ smile.”

Fulfilling all the hopes and promises made by the UCLA staff, Johnson made 12 of his 17 shots, 12 of his 13 free throws, grabbed a career-high nine rebounds in 38 minutes, and, in an overwhelming first half, thoroughly upended the Bears’ defensive schemes to lead UCLA to a 51-38 advantage.

Though Cal freshman Shareef Abdur-Raheem scored 17 of his own in the first half--he was held to only eight points in the second by UCLA’s Jelani McCoy--Johnson dominated the period.

Johnson played sparingly as an oft-injured, overweight freshman last season, and was most notable for his towel fedora during UCLA’s title run. Saturday, he used his strength to overpower Cal’s smaller defenders, and his lighter frame to maneuver past the bigger Bears who came his way.

After hearing “fat” taunts from the student section at Cal’s Harmon Gym and other places last season, Johnson lost 45 pounds over the summer and has been rewarded with a spot in the starting lineup.

Johnson got started fast--and his teammates got out of the way.

“We knew right away when he got started up that he had it going on,” said guard Toby Bailey, who struggled to a seven-for-18 shooting performance, but also made two jump shots to ice the victory in the last five minutes. “When he starts doing that turn-around fade-away, you know he’s on.

“Coach said get him the ball, but we didn’t have to be told that. This team has been good at that all year--getting the ball to the guy who has the hot hand.”

Coach Jim Harrick and his assistants have consistently maintained that the 6-foot-5 Johnson would become a powerful offensive force eventually, and pointed to his dominance in practices as proof. They just didn’t know when it would happen.

Now, if Johnson is someone the defense has to take account of, that frees up the other Bruins for more open shots, according to the UCLA staff.

“I guarantee you: No one’s surprised,” assistant coach Lorenzo Romar said. “No one’s surprised at all. It’s more of, finally!

“Kris was kind of the missing link for us offensively. Because we knew it was there. We knew it.”

Said Bailey: “Last year, he used to kill everybody in practice. George Zidek would be guarding him, and he’d just destroy George.”

Johnson got two quick baskets early off offensive rebounds, then continued to find himself with the ball, close to the basket and a defender unable to stop him.

Cal Coach Todd Bozeman pointed out that suspended Cal forward Tremaine Fowlkes, a teammate of Johnson’s at Crenshaw High, probably could’ve matched up far better with Johnson than guards Gray, Randy Duck and Prentice Magruder or forward Tony Gonzalez.

But Bozeman acknowledged that he was more concerned with UCLA’s other offensive players--Bailey and forwards Charles O’Bannon and J.R. Henderson--than Johnson.

“When you prepare for UCLA, you don’t prepare for Kris Johnson getting 36 points on you,” Bozeman said. “If he does that, hell, they’re pretty tough to beat.

“I’ve seen him in high school, and I’ve never seen him play like that. Sometimes you play against a guy and he’s just in a zone, and there’s nothing you can do.”