Bruins Get Lost in Illinois Along Road to Mediocrity

Is it time for the athletic, aimless UCLA Bruins to wake up and smell the mediocrity?

The Bruin equation got simpler and sadder here during Saturday’s crumbling 79-63 loss to Illinois: They ran fast and played some hard defense. They showed some character in a late comeback.

It didn’t matter. They’re a .500 team, with victories at home over Jackson State, Cal State Northridge and Ohio, and losses against every decent team they’ve played.

And, as the players seemed to realize Saturday afternoon, there are no clear signals that UCLA is going to reverse course any time soon.

“It’s a travesty for us to be so good and yet be so bad,” said senior point guard Cameron Dollar, who had no points, only one assist and committed three turnovers before fouling out. “That’s the frustrating part. We’re so good and we’re playing so bad.”

In an echo of nonconference flameouts of the recent past, 24th-ranked UCLA fell apart against the Fighting Illini (9-2) before 15,331 at the United Center. The Bruins dropped behind early, cut a 16-point deficit to five in the second half, and lost going away.

The Bruins, playing their first road game, committed 23 turnovers, their fifth 20-plus turnover outing in six games, and made only 10 of 21 free throws. The less-athletic Illini passed the ball crisply, turned it over only 13 times, moved it around for open shots by Matt Heldman (19 points) and Chris Gandy (18) and made 18 of 24 from the foul line.

“We should’ve won this game, with the amount of talent and experience we have on this team,” said guard Toby Bailey, who scored 17 points, had six assists, eight rebounds and four steals and was one of the few Bruins to play steadily. “We should only be getting beat by teams of Kansas’ status.

“But I’m not going to start getting too worried until the [conference] season starts. If the problems continue then, then I’ll start getting worried.”

Most pointedly for the Bruins, the team’s two starting seniors, Dollar and Charles O’Bannon (four-of-13 shooting, four turnovers), were particularly shaky.

Center Jelani McCoy, pushed off the post and double-teamed by the Illini, took only three shots, made all of them, committed five turnovers and made only one of six free throws. Forward J.R. Henderson scored 12 points, but had six turnovers and made only two of seven free throws.

“We knew they make a lot of turnovers,” said Illini guard Kiwane Garris, who made only two of 12 shots but had 10 assists and was a key part of the Illini’s effective full-court press. “We tried to pressure them and force them to go fast and have them give in to us.”

At a point in the season when the 3-3 Bruins thought they were moving forward, they fell painfully backward.

Maybe the Bruins aren’t good enough to beat a reasonably talented but unranked team on the road. In the wake of the Illinois loss, the UCLA players--who were disappointed by the double-digit loss to No. 1 Kansas earlier this month, but not devastated--seemed to have a hard time arguing that point.

“We thought we’d handle Illinois,” McCoy said. “Definitely.”

As interim Coach Steve Lavin pointed out, the Bruins were impatient in their half-court offense, over-dribbled, forced passes and generally repeated the same errors that got them whomped by Kansas, tripped up by Princeton in last season’s NCAA tournament, beaten up by Duke and stifled by Louisville last season.

What do they do now?

Sitting amid the most dejected Bruin locker room in several seasons, Dollar didn’t have a clear answer.

“We’re still trying to figure that one out,” Dollar said. “It’s not like we can say, ‘OK, let’s work on our rebounding,’ or, ‘OK, let’s work on our passing.’ It’s not that simple.

“The most frustrating thing is we can’t put our finger on why we’re doing these things, that’s what’s so puzzling.”

Said Henderson: “We just don’t know how to overcome the same problems. I just don’t know what it is about us, but we can’t seem to do it.”

Lavin, who players said was as angry as he’d ever been during and after the game, said that all the team can do is work toward Monday’s game in St. Louis and hope that the bad passing and forced shots disappear.

“It’s something we call ‘basketball suicide,’ we’re shooting ourselves in the foot,” Lavin said.

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Slow Starters

UCLA’s worst starts in basketball since 1963-64, when the Bruins won their first NCAA championship:

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Season Coach Start Finish Comment 1965-66 John Wooden 3-3 18-8 Failed to qualify for NCAA tournament. UCLA won NCAA titles the next seven seasons. 1984-85 Walt Hazzard 2-4 21-12 Won NIT championship 1986-87 Walt Hazzard 3-3 25-7 Lost in second round of NCAA tournament 1987-88 Walt Hazzard 2-4 16-14 Failed to qualify for NCAA tournament 1995-96 Jim Harrick 3-3 23-8 Lost in first round of NCAA tournament 1996-97 Steve Lavin 3-3

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