Home Loss Record Could Be Reached

What Pauley Pavilion mystique?

The Bruins, after getting swept by the Bay Area schools last week, are 7-4 at home this season and making a run for the most losses there in a season. The low point in the historic building, now in its 35th year, was 11-6 in 1988, and USC and the Oregon schools still have visits.

Only three times before this season has UCLA had as many as four defeats at Pauley: 1980, ’84 and ’86. And when Stanford and California both won in Westwood, it was only the second time that had happened in Pauley, the previous time in 1990.

It was also the second consecutive season that the Bruins got swept by those schools. In 1999, they played well before losing in Palo Alto and then were routed in Oakland by Cal, before recovering to beat USC and Syracuse--the same opponents they play in their next two games.

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The Bruins have struggled to get to the line lately, shooting four free throws Jan. 20 against Arizona and six Jan. 29 at Oregon, and it was enough to make Coach Steve Lavin wonder about the last time that happened.

“Maybe in the Men’s Gym in ‘48, when my dad came down [from the Bay Area] with a set shot,” he said.

Then UCLA had only 12 free throws in its next game, against Stanford. It’s hardly about the officiating, though, since Lavin is the first to admit, accurately, that his team needs to be more aggressive inside, instead of falling away from the basket even when at close range. The Bruins did manage to get 27 free-throw attempts against Cal.

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UP NEXT

vs. USC

Wednesday

7:30

Fox Sports Net 2