UCLA Plays Like the Devil

UCLA and Duke, two four-letter teams with Final Four dreams, looked hard at each other Sunday, and saw scrambling versions of themselves: Same motion offense, same agile athletes, same ferocious dedication to defense.

And after nearly 39 minutes of action, the score was the same, too, 69-69, with the sound and anxiety rising.

Then, in a handful of plays as significant for the UCLA program as any in almost two years, the Bruins stamped one last time on the accelerator, screeched past the No. 6 Blue Devils, and, as the horn sounded on their elevating, 73-69 victory, rediscovered something they had lost for months:

National validation.

“After all this team has been through, what do you know, we’re heading into March and we’re a good team--well, we resemble a good team,” said UCLA Coach Steve Lavin, beaming bright after getting a warm post-game handshake from his idol, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“After the game, he said, ‘Your guys played hard today,’ and that’s the ultimate thing to hear coming from Coach K.”

This victory--UCLA’s fifth in a row and 14th in 17 games--ended the 17th-ranked Bruins’ long drought against major powers outside the Pacific 10 and markedly improved their hopes to be placed as a top-echelon-seeded team in the West Regional of the NCAA tournament.

Before a decibel-jumping 13,478 at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA’s second straight record-setting crowd, the Bruins outrebounded the smaller Blue Devils by 10, and forced the deadly Duke jump shooters into a woeful 39.4% field-goal performance.

In the frantic moments, UCLA got two gigantic baskets by J.R. Henderson, who had 16 of his game-high 18 points and six of his seven rebounds in the second half, and also got a big steal and a soaring defensive rebound from Charles O’Bannon, and an explosive drive and layup from Toby Bailey. Meanwhile, the Bruins held Duke scoreless over the last 2:02.

“I thought what happened at the end was their strengths against our weaknesses,” Krzyzewski said.

Against a team and a coach that are symbols of clutch basketball and recent tournament glory, from the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference, and playing for a coach who measures himself against Kryzewski’s values, UCLA out-duked Duke.

“You could tell he was probably comparing us to them,” UCLA point guard Cameron Dollar said of Lavin. “You know, measuring us to see if we could be as mentally tough, if we could have as much character battling a Krzyzewski team in a big game.

“And I think it’s good for him to see us pull it out, see how tough we are. He could see just what he’s done.”

Said O’Bannon, who had eight rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals and 11 points: “They’re the first-place team in what’s supposed to be the best league in the country, and they’re peaking, they’d won 11 out of 12, so that makes it more special.”

UCLA early in the season--and last season--had trouble taking advantage of its front-line size against smaller teams, and got crushed by a less-talented Duke team at Cameron Indoor Stadium last season. But on Sunday the Bruins (17-7) went up and over the Blue Devils (22-6), who played a three- or four-guard lineup most of the game.

The Blue Devils’ quickness--highlighted by 6-foot-6 Carson-native Ricky Price’s slashes and bombs--he ended up with 17 points--hurt UCLA early and often as the two teams took big runs at each other in a herky-jerky first half that ended with UCLA ahead, 34-33.

With Henderson and O’Bannon limited by first-half foul trouble, Jelani McCoy vaulted into the void, grabbing six rebounds and scoring nine points in the first half. McCoy finished with 11 rebounds and 11 points.

Challenged by Lavin after collecting only two offensive rebounds in the half, the Bruins got 13 in the second half, including four by Henderson, who scored 10 of the Bruins’ first 13 points in the half, then scored his final three baskets as the game see-sawed over the last six minutes.

“If they’re going to put out a guy whose 6-5 on J.R., his eyes get really big,” O’Bannon said.

Said Henderson: “I was telling Dollar the whole game, if they’re going to play all those guards to take advantage of their quickness, we have to try to take advantage of our height against them.

“That’s why I was going to the boards so hard in the second half. They weren’t able to box me out and that let me get some easy shots.”

Meanwhile, the Bruins’ defense was especially hard on leading Blue Devil scorer Trajan Langdon, who scorched Clemson for 34 points in his last outing. With Bailey lunging at him on the perimeter, Langdon made only three of his 14 shot attempts and scored only 11 points, while committing four turnovers.

This game, said Bailey, was a sign that this UCLA team probably won’t duplicate last season’s first-round debacle against Princeton.

“Last year, I thought we were getting wins that we maybe didn’t deserve, and we weren’t really playing together, we weren’t as focused as we are this year,” Bailey said. “Our goal is to win the Pac-10, but I think we can win the championship. We have the potential, and if we keep peaking . . . “

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Top Competition

How UCLA has fared against Top 25 teams since it won its last NCAA title:

1995-96 SEASON (3-3)

* Lost to No. 2 Kansas, 85-70

* Beat No. 20 Maryland, 73-63

* Beat No. 24 Stanford, 64-56

* Lost to No. 18 Arizona, 88-79

* Lost to No. 25 Stanford, 67-66

* Beat No. 13 Arizona, 76-75

1996-97 SEASON (4-2)

* Lost to No. 1 Kansas, 96-83

* Lost to No. 21 Stanford, 109-61

* Beat No. 6 Arizona, 84-78 (OT)

* Beat No. 18 Stanford, 87-68

* Beat No. 11 Arizona, 66-64

* Beat No. 6 Duke, 73-69

* OVERALL RECORD: 7-5

* RECORD VS. PAC-10 TOP 25: 5-3