Davis Undergoes Test on Knee

After coming down awkwardly on a dunk nine minutes into Sunday’s victory over Michigan, BrUCLA freshman guard Baron Davis said he felt a pop in his left knee and felt some serious pain.

“I came down and I felt my knee kind of twist out,” said Davis, who is scheduled to undergo a magnetic-resonance imaging test today at UCLA. “I tried to keep playing on it, but it just hurt too much and I didn’t want to hurt the team.

“At first I thought it might be something really serious. It was like I was running with only one leg.”

Davis limped back down court, but had to come out of the game with 10:58 to play in the first half and played only a cameo five minutes in the second half, his knee still obviously bothering him.

“I don’t think it’s likely there’s major damage,” said team doctor Gerald Finerman, who took Davis back to the locker room during the first half for an examination. “If I did, I wouldn’t have let him back on the court.

“But it’s obvious when he went back into the game he didn’t have the mobility he is used to.”

Davis said he felt his knee pop back into place after the injury, but said that, when he went back in, he couldn’t run or move side to side.

“I hope it’s not serious,” Davis said

*

Before Sunday’s game, J.R. Henderson had only made two three-point baskets all season.

Against Michigan, with Wolverine center Robert Traylor leaving him alone away from the basket, Henderson was two for four from behind the line in the first half and suddenly the center of much more interest from the Michigan defense away from the hoop.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be shooting threes all game,” said Henderson, who didn’t try a three-pointer in the second half. “I just wanted to open things up for my teammates by making Traylor respect me.”

With a smile, UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the game plan for Henderson to fire up some long-range jump shots.

“I always tell the guys, as long as you’re trying hard, I’ll live with your taking some three-point shots,” Lavin said.

*

This is the first time UCLA, which lost in the Midwest Regional finals last season, has made the Sweet 16 in successive seasons since the 1979 and 1980 teams. . . . Lavin is the first UCLA coach since John Wooden to win multiple tournament games in consecutive seasons.

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Four on the Floor

Conferences that have sent four teams to the Sweet 16 since tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985:

* 1985--ACC (Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State); Big East (Boston College, x-Georgetown, x-St. John’s, y-Villanova)

* 1986--ACC (x-Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State); SEC (Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, x-LSU)

* 1989--ACC (x-Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia); Big 10 (x-Illinois, Indiana, y-Michigan, Minnesota)

* 1990--ACC (Clemson, x-Duke, x-Georgia Tech, North Carolina)

* 1992--ACC (y-Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina)

* 1993--ACC (Florida State, y-North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest)

* 1995--ACC (Maryland, x-North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest)

* 1996--SEC (Arkansas, Georgia, y-Kentucky, x-Mississippi State)

* 1997--Pac-10 (y-Arizona, California, Stanford, UCLA)

* 1998--Pac-10 (Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, Washington)

x-reached Final Four; y-won national championship