Bruins Discover Fun in Defense

UCLA pushed itself more than the opponent did Wednesday night, setting the goal of holding Morgan State to 50 points, and then deciding to really get serious.

Do we hear 40?

The 12th-ranked Bruins did, responding to the updated challenge that came from coaches at halftime to limit Morgan State to 19.4% shooting the rest of the way and cruise to a 100-39 victory before 6,531 at Pauley Pavilion.

The third consecutive win to open the season also came as the largest margin of victory in 28 years and the fifth-biggest all-time, impressive no matter the opponent for a program that has known domination. Three UCLA teams won by 65 points--most recently Jan. 20, 1967--and the Dec. 11, 1971, trouncing of Texas A&M; was by 64 points.

“Coach Lav, he stressed that in the pregame talk,” guard Ray Young said of Steve Lavin’s speech. “It was all about defense. He didn’t expect us to score 100 points. If we did that, fine. But he expected us to hold the opponent to a certain amount of points. And we exceeded that.”

They held an opponent to the fewest points in Pauley Pavilion since Bradley had 38 early in 1972-73 as Ryan Bailey and Young had four steals each and Billy Knight had three, along with 15 points to tie his career high. Morgan State managed just 30.4% from the field overall and had 28 turnovers and six assists.

The third opening lineup in as many games came with the expected addition of Dan Gadzuric at center, his first start since Feb. 21, but also with the unexpected condition of the Bruins at full strength, a surprise most any day the way this season has started but especially considering the previous 48 hours.

Jerome Moiso and Young were questionable the day before, Young after straining his neck in practice, when a teammate came down from grabbing a rebound and landed on his head, pushing his chin to his chest, and Mosio after sitting out the same workout because of the flu. Sean Farnham and Jason Kapono were at least listed as probable--after each suffered concussions in unrelated incidents in Monday’s practice. Assistant Coach Michael Holton again had to be used Tuesday.

Come Wednesday night though, the Bruins were 10 strong again, starting Farnham and Kapono on the frontline along with Gadzuric, and Rico Hines and Earl Watson at guard.

It was especially noteworthy in Gadzuric’s case as another benchmark in his return from the knee surgery that ended his 1998-99 season and, perhaps even more prominently, of his continued progress this season amid problems in both knees, apparently unrelated to the operation. After playing just seven minutes in the opener against Fairfield, though partly because of foul trouble, and 15 Saturday against Iona, the 6-foot-11 sophomore went into the opening lineup without time restrictions, then played 20 Wednesday.

He played well enough to deserve more, hitting four of five shots, except for one thing.

He was too big. Way too big.

Morgan State, having shot 33.5% while losing its first three games by an average of 20.7 points, fell as quickly as expected, keeping up only for the first six minutes or so. But the Bears were not pushed around. Blown past was more like it.

UCLA, 3-0 for the first time since the 1994-95 NCAA championship season, turned the game into a rout as soon as it went small, using a full-court press to cause the visitors so many problems that Morgan State managed just 15 shots in the first half. It also committed 19 turnovers.

The Bruins made 19 of 31 attempts in the first half, mostly because the turnovers created so many easy baskets in transition. Thus the 61.3% accuracy, and 49-21 lead, in the first half.

Small ball included Watson, Young, Hines, Kapono, Bailey, Knight and JaRon Rush at various stages, and Hines, at 6-4, playing the high post. Of course, it also included a five-second call and a 35-second violation against Morgan State, so the lineup didn’t look strange so much as effective.

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USC: 94

UCSB: 73

After a slow first half at the Sports Arena, the Trojans scored the first 16 points of the second half. Page 5