UCLA Not at Its Best

A UCLA basketball team that once hoped to contend for a conference championship is suddenly faced with a new goal.

Contend with a conference contender.

Even that has become a longshot. The latest indication of the distance between the Pacific 10 elite and a team unable to so much as keep a reasonable pace with the lead pack came Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins got beat up again, this time getting a 78-63 loss to No. 2 Stanford and a sign of the times.

The latest one, that is. Of the four teams that began the night tied for the conference lead--Stanford, Oregon, Arizona and USC--UCLA has been unable to come closer than 12 points to any of them. And that was only after trailing by 20 to the Trojans with about eight minutes left at the Sports Arena.

The other three setbacks were by 15 points, and it took a second-half rally Thursday just to stay in the game. The deficit was also 20against Stanford (18-1, 7-1), which came before a brief sign of life got the Bruins within eight with 14:04 left, which came before reality returned: The teams are in the same conference, but a different league.

“That’s a very disappointing loss,” forward Jerome Moiso said after UCLA dropped to 12-7 and 3-5, worth a sixth-place tie with California, the opponent Saturday. “We did not compete against them in the first half. We fought back and made a little run at them in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”

And things may not get much better. This game was the start of what figures to be a very difficult stretch for the Bruins, as if there has been anything resembling easy since early December in this season of lackluster performances--Stanford, then Cal, USC, at Syracuse, at Arizona State, at Arizona, Oregon.

Seven games. Three against teams currently ranked in the top nine--Stanford, No. 4 Syracuse and No. 9 Arizona. Three against teams that have already handily beat the Bruins--USC, Oregon and Arizona. Three on the road, including one against an opponent, Arizona State, they beat by six points at home and only after career-high offensive contributions from two players, 22 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks from Moiso and a terrible shooting day by Sun Devil star Eddie House.

“I’m really excited about playing the big-name teams,” UCLA guard Earl Watson said before the game. “Those are usually the games we come out and play the hardest.”

Or maybe not.

Looking flat from the beginning, the Bruins fell behind, 13-3, after managing one basket in the opening 6 1/2 minutes, and then 20-8, and finally 36-18 with 3:04 remaining in the half. That came after three consecutive three-pointers by Stanford, capped by the first of the season for Jarron Collins, the 6-10 forward.

If this looked familiar--see: Oregon, Arizona, USC, in Pac-10 play alone--it also came as a strange sight. Two of the Bruins’ best games of last season, after all, were against Stanford, losses both, but in competitive fashion against an opponent ranked fourth and sixth at the time.

Come the first meeting of 1999-2000, that gave way to an early blowout. The Cardinal shot 58.3% overall and 60% (six of 10) on three-pointers in the first half, compared to the Bruins going 35.7% from the field and missing all seven tries from behind the arc, leading to Stanford’s 38-22 advantage at the break.

The margin quickly went to 20 points early in the second half, helped by the two free throws converted when UCLA Coach Steve Lavin was called for a technical, his first since the Jan. 31, 1999, ejection at Washington. If it sparked the Bruins, it came in delayed fashion, starting a little less than two minutes later.

But something definitely happened. A 17-5 run got them back in the game, at 49-41 with 14:04 left.

Then Stanford answered with two three-point baskets, a runner down the lane and a dunk with the help of an offensive rebound, regaining control at 59-46. Three and a half minutes later, the Cardinal lead was back to 16, en route to the comfortable victory behind 54.9% shooting and a team-high 17 points from Casey Jacobsen, the freshman from Glendora High.

Freshman Jason Kapono led the Bruins with 21 points, but he missed all four of his three-point shots as the Bruins finished 0 for 14 from behind the arc.

Meanwhile, JaRon Rush was back on the bench, complete with new rust-colored hair, after spending the previous few days with family, friends and legal advisors in Kansas City, Mo., to consider the news of his lengthy suspension.

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CHANGING OF THE GUARDS

UCLA has won 27 conference basketball titles, but you can forget about No. 28 for this season, says Chris Dufresne. Page 11

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UCLA WOMEN LOSE AGAIN

Maylana Martin scores one point and Stanford pulls away in the second half to catch Bruins in Pac-10 race.

Page 11

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ONE STREAK GOES ON

Pepperdine loses a crucial WCC game at Gonzaga, but Long Beach State makes it 13 in a row with a victory over UC Irvine, Page 10