UCLA Takes Step Toward a Bigger Test

UCLA scraped the banana peel off the bottom of its shoe and moved ahead, even if part of the forward progress was a stumble.

The Bruins reached the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Shootout after turning a one-point deficit with 3 1/2 minutes to play into a 69-62 victory over San Francisco on Thursday in the first round before a crowd of about 500 at Eugene Guerra Sports Complex.

They are in trouble.

Maybe.

“If we play like we did tonight against Maryland,” Coach Steve Lavin said, “we might get blitz-krieged by 70.”

The Bruins welcome the opportunity to find out. If the events of Thursday in the 2,500-seat arena, which had the feel of a high school gym, were more of the countless examples of a young team unsuccessfully trying to fool the learning curve, what comes today is their first real test, maybe even their biggest before conference play.

They are No. 10 in the nation--which still counts on this Caribbean island since it is a United States territory--but that’s based largely on the potential of a team that again started four freshmen and one sophomore and will be without Baron Davis for at least the final two games of this tournament. Maryland is No. 5 based on fact. The fact that the front line of Obinna Ekezie, Terence Morris and Laron Profit is already very good and point guard Steve Francis arrives as a prized junior college transfer.

The Terrapins have won their five games by an average of 91-49, having turned the host school, American, into their most recent ball of string to swipe at. The 82-32 final in an earlier game Thursday was so out of control so soon that it wasn’t even of much use for UCLA scouting purposes. Which only made it like all of Maryland’s other so-called contests, against the likes of Hofstra, Duquesne and Maryland Baltimore County.

The Bruins, meanwhile, were sluggish in beating Santa Clara by seven Nov. 19 in their season opener, then got a USF team that started a freshman and three sophomores, that got only 22 minutes from its leading scorer because of foul trouble, and that made only two of its first 19 shots in the second half. The favorites, having already wasted a 10-point lead before the break, were able to capitalize on the Dons’ shooting troubles after intermission all the way to a 54-52 edge.

And now they get Maryland, in a game the Bruins plan to use as a reading of their early season standing, even as Davis, an integral part of their team, watches in street clothes. Apparently just in case Santa Clara and San Francisco didn’t already answer those questions.

“We will still find out a lot about ourselves,” swingman Rico Hines said. “Who knows, Baron could be in foul trouble some game. A lot of things can happen. We have to learn to play through adversity. Even though we’re missing Baron, it’s a good test for us.”

Added reserve Brandon Loyd, who made three of four three-point baskets and scored nine points in 11 minutes: “It’s definitely going to be a gauge. We’re both top-10 teams. Last year, when we played North Carolina in the Alaska tournament, we didn’t have two of our starting guys [the suspended Kris Johnson and Jelani McCoy]. I was the [small forward], and I’m 5-11. I don’t think that makes for much of a gauge.

“I’m a really big college basketball fan and I see where they [the Terrapins] have been blowing teams out by 40 or 50 points. Steve Francis is a great addition. So we know all about them. It’ll be a test, so we can see where we’re at.”

Closer to present-day reality than potential, no doubt. The Bruins of Thursday, after all, committed 24 turnovers, which led to 25 San Francisco points, and struggled mightily even as the Dons made 20% of their shots in the second half and only 27.8% overall. Gerald Zimmerman, a Ventura College product who had previously scored 24 points against UC Santa Barbara and 31 against St. Louis, scored only nine while playing 22 minutes before fouling out with 4:21 to play.

The Dons trailed by only 56-54 at the time. They got a three-point shot from LyRyan Russell moments later to move ahead, then went under for good. UCLA hit them with a 9-0 run--Dan Gadzuric got two baskets in that stretch to finish with 12 points on six-of-six shooting--to build an insurmountable 65-57 lead with 45 seconds remaining.

PITT UPSETS XAVIER: Pittsburgh defeated No. 13 Xavier, 94-76, in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Shootout. Page 14

LAVIN CONSIDERS CHANGE: Steve Lavin might make a change in UCLA’s starting lineup for today’s game against Maryland. Page 14