The Northridge Aftershocks

Practice could wait. One day after the UCLA players stumbled through a 78-74 defeat to Cal State Northridge, Bruin Coach Steve Lavin switched off the lights and flipped on the video.

Lavin typically limits his video reviews to certain plays or segments of a game. On Wednesday, the Bruins watched the whole horror flick, turnover after turnover, 24 in all. Rewind. Turnover. Rewind. Turnover.

“The video doesn’t lie,” Lavin said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win because we didn’t take care of the ball.”

The Bruins spent two hours in the film room and then two more on the court Wednesday. After practice, Lavin stressed the 15th-ranked Bruins (1-2) should be embarrassed by the way they played but not by the concept of losing to Northridge. The Matadors won at Oregon last season; the Bruins did not.

“We’re a good team that played very poorly and was beaten by a good team,” he said.

While distressed alumni wondered whether the Bruins had suffered through a more humiliating home defeat since a 1986 NIT loss to UC Irvine, Lavin talked of parity in college basketball, of Wright State beating eventual NCAA champion Michigan State last season, of Central Michigan beating Purdue and Oakland beating Michigan this season.

“I’m not even sure where Oakland is,” Lavin said. (It’s in Rochester, Mich.)

The box score of Tuesday’s game shows the Bruins taking more shots and making more shots than the Matadors, with more rebounds, more assists and more blocks. The turnovers--and the frustration that resulted in fouls--tipped the game to Northridge.

And no excuses will be accepted about how the season is still young, not when the Bruin roster includes nine juniors and seniors. Freshman T.J. Cummings is the only newcomer who plays extensively, and he leads the team in field-goal percentage. Junior forward Matt Barnes and senior point guard Earl Watson both committed seven turnovers, for Watson the most in 32 games.

“That’s discouraging,” Lavin said.

The Bruins appeared confused and tentative in the face of a series of rapidly changing Northridge defenses. But forward Jason Kapono said the Bruins were prepared for those defenses, and Lavin said the Bruins successfully attacked a variety of defenses in their 97-92 victory over Kentucky in New York two weeks ago.

“We definitely didn’t overlook Northridge,” Lavin said, “but our concentration and execution was not as sharp against Northridge as it was in New York.”

Kapono, the Bruins’ top scorer, had 41 points in two games in New York. On Tuesday, he made both his shots in the first half, missed all six of his shots in the second half and finished with six points.

“Jason is only a sophomore. He’s going to have games like this,” Watson said. “We can’t put all the pressure on his shoulders and blame the loss on him. We didn’t pick each other up when we needed to.”

Not as much as needed, perhaps, although guard Ray Young scored 15 points, Barnes had 11 and Cummings had 10.

The Bruins beat Kentucky in overtime after Kapono fouled out in regulation, but Lavin insists UCLA cannot prosper without Kapono leading the offensive charge.

Kapono has scored eight points or fewer in only four of his 36 games as a Bruin. UCLA is 1-3 in those games, and the Bruins have averaged 63 points in those games. That won’t do, because the Bruin defense seldom holds opponents to so few points.

If he doesn’t shoot well, as in the second half Tuesday, too bad. If he only takes two shots, as in the first half, that is unacceptable.

“We have to make a more concerted effort to get Jason looks at the basket,” Lavin said. “He’s as prolific a scorer as there is in the country. For us to play well on a consistent basis, we need Jason Kapono to be a leading scorer for us.”