It’s Now a Drive for Five

UCLA returns to Pacific 10 Conference play and the no-room-for-error push for the NCAA tournament, feeling it needs to win five of the last eight games to clinch a berth.

Considering three of those games are at No. 4 Arizona, at No. 2 Stanford and versus Oregon, which already beat the Bruins by 15 points, that makes tonight’s game at Arizona State the first of several they can not afford to lose. That means victories over the teams that should be on the same level--the Sun Devils, Oregon State, California, Washington State and Washington--are critical.

A loss to any of those will require the Bruins to compensate with an upset over Arizona, Stanford or Oregon. But a 5-3 finish by any combination, in the wake of the loss at Syracuse, has been targeted to clinch the NCAA invitation.

“I don’t want to get in a guessing game,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “But I think that’s a realistic goal. Looking at our schedule, I think that’s within our grasp.”

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The crowd of 29,731 at Syracuse on Sunday was the second-biggest to watch a UCLA regular-season game, topped only by the 52,693 who attended the historic 1968 game against Houston in the Astrodome.

TONIGHT

at Arizona State, 5:30 PST

Fox Sports Net 2

* Site--Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe.

* Radio--KXTA (1150).

* Records--Bruins 13-9, 4-6; Sun Devils 14-9, 6-5.

* Update--Arizona State had lost four in a row and five of six before winning both games at the Washington schools last week. But even that sweep was unimpressive--it took overtime against last-place Washington State.