Bailey Is in High Spirits

After a recent slump, Toby Bailey heads into the final two Pauley Pavilion games of his career this week brimming with the confidence of a player who set his career high in scoring last Sunday in his 124th UCLA game.

“It feels real good, especially since I’ve paid my dues,” said Bailey, who scored all of his 32 points in a wild second half at Washington. That followed an impressive 19-point, nine-rebound effort against Washington State. “Everybody goes through a slump and this year I had my little slump.

“Before the end of the season, I’m finally starting to get going. This is when you need to start getting your game together. And if everybody starts doing that, we’re going to be dangerous.”

In the Bruins’ best sustained offensive performance in years, Bailey made 13 of his 17 shot attempts in the second half.

“I’m sure if I went to another school, if I went to a school of a lower caliber, I could be doing that every night--if I could get the ball in my hands like that every night,” Bailey said.

“But when I came here, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to put 32 up every night. That’s why this school is so great. That’s why we have 11 national championships.”

*

Arizona State interim coach Don Newman, whose team sits on the bubble at 18-11 with several meaningful victories, said he believes a split on the road against UCLA tonight and USC on Saturday should get his team into the NCAA tournament.

“I think with the criteria that’s being put out there, talk about strength of schedule, opponents you’ve played, quality wins, I think we’ve proven that we’ve done some special things this year,” said Newman, whose Sun Devils are 8-8 in conference play but have won at Stanford and at Cincinnati and have lost tight games to Kansas and Arizona.

“If we’re fortunate enough to get a win [against UCLA], I think that would seal it.”

TONIGHT

vs. Arizona State.

* 7:30

* Fox Sports West 2

Site--Pauley Pavilion.

Radio--AM 1150.

Records--No. 19 Bruins 21-7, 11-5 in Pacific 10 Conference play; Sun Devils 18-11, 8-8.

Update--If not for a loss to Oregon State in January, Arizona State, the second-best scoring team in the Pac-10, would probably already be assured of an NCAA tournament berth by now. Sun Devil guard Jeremy Veal leads the conference with a 20.7 scoring average, and Bobby Lazor is 10th at 17.3. But the key might be point guard Ahlon Lewis, who is far and away the conference’s best assist man, averaging 9.21 a game, more than three better than second-place Mike Bibby of Arizona.