Cyclones Might Not Get Much Help in Matchups

Iowa State, which successfully devoted about half of its defensive manpower to prevent Cincinnati’s Danny Fortson from touching the ball in its second-round victory, may not be able to use that technique against UCLA’s balanced offense, according to Cyclone Coach Tim Floyd.

Though Floyd said he would love to give 6-foot-3 power forward Kenny Pratt help covering 6-9 Bruin forward J.R. Henderson, that probably would mean leaving UCLA center Jelani McCoy free near the basket.

“We’re going to have to play more or less straight-up,” Floyd said Wednesday. “McCoy is not a guy you can leave unguarded, he’s leading the nation in field-goal percentage. If we allow him to get the ball in places where he can score, the big guy [center Kelvin Cato] is going to foul out of the game.

“Kelvin’s the guy we would normally send over to help on if Kenny’s got a guy with some size, so I’m sure they’re going to test us inside. We are aware of that.

“I guess we just have to hope for some misses, I think.”

Henderson, averaging 21.5 points in the tournament, said he anticipated that Iowa’s smaller forwards would try to play UCLA physically.

“I’m ready for physical play,” Henderson said. “I’ve got a lot of scratches, bruises . . . We had a physical game with Xavier, they tried to push us, and we did pretty good, didn’t we?”

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Who was that energetic white-haired man in the blue sweatsuit zinging passes and shouting encouragement during the Bruins’ one-hour workout at the Alamodome on Wednesday?

None other than Cappy Lavin, Steve’s father, who eventually was asked to leave the floor by NCAA officials, who said UCLA could have only three coaches (or coaches’ fathers) participating in practice.

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Talent-wise, the Cyclones compare UCLA to Kansas, the Big 12 conference rival that beat Iowa State three times this season.

But other than that, Iowa State guard Dedric Willoughby said, there’s a big difference between the teams.

“They’re far more athletic than Kansas,” Willoughby said. “And Kansas is a really set team--you know where they’re going to go. [The Bruins] can go out and do anything at any time.”

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Magic Johnson gave the UCLA players a 30-minute pep talk at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday, hours before they left for San Antonio. “Yeah, just somebody nobody’s really ever heard of,” Henderson said with a smile. “He was there to motivate us, and he really got us going.”

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Athletic Director Peter Dalis said Wednesday in San Antonio that the Bruins have not agreed to play in next season’s Wooden Classic at the Pond in Anaheim.

“We’ve had discussions, but it’s been two or three weeks since I’ve heard back from them,” Dalis said. “They have yet to come up with an opponent for us, and as far as I know they don’t even have a [TV] network yet.”