Rout and Out

This was an executioner’s song, played out over two humbling hours, at a pace that was not UCLA’s, in a game that was never UCLA’s, with an ending that was obvious from the first fizzling stanza.

This was also a commencement song, sad but without tears, ending but hardly summarizing the careers of three Bruin seniors.

When Kentucky’s 94-68 victory at Tropicana Field over UCLA was assured on Friday night, and Toby Bailey, J.R. Henderson and Kris Johnson hugged each other one last time, they said goodbye, measuring the memories of 102 victories against the pain of loss No. 27.

As of Friday night, the pain was stronger than the elegy.

“I just wanted to let them know I was proud be around them and play with them,” Bailey said. “This year, and all we went through in our careers . . . I love those two guys.

“I’m just sad I’m not going to play with them any more.”

Against Kentucky, the South Region’s No. 2-seeded team, UCLA’s bluff was finally called, and the outmanned Bruins couldn’t beat Kentucky’s royal flush of talent, couldn’t even come close.

The Bruins got to the second round by surviving countless challenges, including their upset of Michigan in the second round, but the loss of Baron Davis on Monday, plus the crisp and dangerous Kentucky lineup, cut down this elastic season.

“All things must come to an end,” Johnson said quietly, “We had a great run. But it’s over.

“We didn’t think it was, but I guess Baron’s ACL was the last dagger. It just was too much for us to overcome tonight. We’ve bounced back from so much turmoil and so many things, but this is the one that we couldn’t.

“I guess the magic wasn’t meant to be for this game.”

Kentucky rocketed to an 11-2 start right off the bat, started swatting back almost everything the Bruins (24-9) tossed at the basket--including three Nazr Mohammed blocks of Henderson in the first four minutes--and it never really stopped.

In the game, the Wildcats (32-4) blocked 14 shots (six each by centers Mohammed and Jamaal Magloire), their pressure forced the Davis-less Bruins into 19 turnovers (eight by Earl Watson), and their flying defense held UCLA to a season-low 29.1% shooting.

“They’re a team that goes on crazy runs,” said Johnson, who led UCLA with 18 points but never really got on an offensive run, “and they just went on a crazy run to start the game. And really, there wasn’t much we could do about it.”

If it wasn’t Allen Edwards driving around the basket for a reverse slam, or Wayne Turner collecting one of his three steals or Jeff Sheppard flipping in a three-point shot . . . it was everybody, all 11 players of Coach Tubby Smith’s regular rotation, which swamped the four-deep Bruins.

The press and the blocks tossed the Bruins and freshman guard Watson into disarray, and into disrepair.

“I think if we would’ve had Baron, he would’ve been able to do a lot,” Bailey said. “He might’ve been able to beat the press by himself, like Tyus [Edney] used to, and I could’ve run on the wings. It could’ve made a big difference.”

Only two dunks by reserve Kevin Daley in the last 15 seconds kept this from being UCLA’s worst-ever loss in the NCAA tournament--as it was, the 26-point defeat ranked only ahead of a 27-point setback to Indiana in 1992.

“I guess they’re going to remember us as the team that beat Michigan, and got waxed by Kentucky,” Johnson said. “But we played as hard as we could. You can’t fault us for that.”

Said freshman forward Travis Reed, who got only his third start of the season and grabbed 10 rebounds: “They had tall trees everywhere. They blocked out shots, they made threes, they pressed us, they were doing everything. They’re a really good team. A really good team.”

The Bruins closed to within seven, at 28-21, with about five minutes to play in the first half, but had three more shots blocked (Mohammed rejected five in the first half alone, and backup Magloire had three) and committed five turnovers against Kentucky’s full-court press in the remainder of the half.

Down by 17 at halftime, the Bruins made their only serious charge to start the second, closing to within 41-30.

But that only triggered Kentucky’s biggest onslaught: Bam-bam-bam-bam, faster than a long blink, more Bruin shots went backward, Turner dropped in two lay-ups, Sheppard made a three-pointer and a layup, and it was 50-30 with 16:03 to play.

The rest was filler, and that’s when the farewell music began to swell.

Of the seniors, only the stoic Henderson kept away from the emotional tones.

“It wasn’t really a heartbreak for me,” Henderson said. “I just think of it as moving on to bigger and better things. I’m not going to sit around and cry about it.”

Kentucky took Henderson out of his game early--”They packed it in and didn’t let us do anything inside,” Henderson said after making five of 20 shots. “That’s smart, that’s what I would’ve done”--forced Bailey into missing all seven of his first-half shots, and cruised.

“I’m tired,” Bailey said. “Having to keep getting up for upsets, all those obstacles we had to overcome, it’s a little draining.

“But I would’ve liked to keep playing--I had enough for a couple more.”