J.R. Henderson Shows This Could Be His Heyday

J.R. Henderson plays basketball as if he has better things to do.

He scowls, he sighs, he rolls his eyes and looks at the ceiling.

For four seasons he has done this. For four seasons you have wanted to run to midcourt and grab him and say, “Uh, J.R., are we keeping you from something?”

Then came Saturday at the Pond, where the UCLA senior forward battered one of the best forwards in the country for 40 minutes, leaving New Mexico’s Kenny Thomas and 14,274 fans with a nagging question.

For four seasons, has J.R. Henderson been misunderstood?

In a game with major postseason implications, with his team at a major disadvantage, Henderson took control in UCLA’s 69-58 victory over the eighth-ranked Lobos.

He outscored Thomas, a preseason All-American, 24-8. This included holding Thomas scoreless in the first half.

He outrebounded Thomas, 7-6. He helped force Thomas into four turnovers, while committing only two.

By playing the entire game, Henderson did something he did only once last season.

With 1:26 remaining, Henderson ended his special afternoon by strutting in front of the UCLA cheering section waving his upraised arms . . . while Thomas stomped around muttering at his shoes.

“I could hear him saying, ‘Dang, dang, dang,’ ” Henderson said gleefully.

Yes, gleefully.

Judging from Saturday’s performance, it is as if Henderson woke up at the start of this season and decided it was his turn.

His turn to do what Ed and Charles O’Bannon did as seniors. His turn to be the life of the party instead of its most noticeably bored guest.

A month ago, everyone was thinking this would be Toby Bailey’s team.

On Saturday, while Bailey continued to struggle with his jump shot, Henderson played as if he was crying out, “What about me?”

First misconception: the face.

“He’s concentrating on the game, he has a very high basketball IQ, that’s why he looks so serious,” UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said. “Yet the CBS camera always find his face, and everyone thinks he is mad.”

Henderson laughed.

“I can’t worry about my facial expressions, that’s ridiculous,” he said. “What’s that got to do with winning?”

Second misconception: the body language.

“Yeah, it’s really hard to read him,” Bailey said. “But I think this year, he knows that all the freshman are looking up to him, and neither he or I can wait for somebody else to play 100%.”

Henderson laughed again.

“People have the perception that I have a bad attitude, but that’s how I get into the game,” he said.

Last misconception: the attitude.

There was a time, early in his UCLA career, that Henderson didn’t seem to work as hard as others.

There was a time, as recently as last season, that Henderson didn’t seem to care about keeping up with his schoolwork and remaining eligible.

“This summer,” Lavin said, “he really kicked it in.”

Henderson passed two summer school courses, including Russian. He worked on his strength.

And he read a lot of preseason magazines with their preseason all-star teams.

Rarely has a UCLA returning senior forward with a national championship ring been so ignored.

“I saw a lot of people at my position ranked ahead of me,” he said. “I shook my head and thought, ‘I hope I get a chance to play against some of these guys.’ ”

On Saturday, he had that chance.

At 6 feet 9, he is one inch taller than Thomas, but at 233, he is outweighed by 22 pounds. Both men are really power forwards, but both were playing center.

Before any of the 26 players took the floor, it was clear this afternoon would be about two of them.

“For an hour before the game, I was thinking about Kenny Thomas,” Henderson said. “I was like, in a daze.”

Soon, it was Thomas who was in a daze.

Henderson sneaked around him for layups, sneaked behind him for steals, used help from a collapsing defense to force him into two turnovers in a one-minute span late in the first half.

“By then, I knew we had him,” said Henderson, and did he ever.

In the second half he continued to push the larger man around, and in the end, every time J.R. Henderson touched the ball, it was as if he purposely dribbled directly at Thomas, scoring directly over him.

Afterward, Thomas didn’t say much about his conqueror, but he did say this: “He’s a real good player.”

To Henderson, who with Bailey has helped the Bruins to an 82-18 record during their stay here, those were words enough.

“People call me meek, they say I play soft,” Henderson said. “I knew this day would come.”

And he smiled. No, really.