UCLA Almost Blows It

This is one way to keep expectations from becoming inflated during a six-game winning streak.

Look ragged repeatedly at home against vastly inferior opponents.

UCLA held off a late charge and downed Columbia, 64-55, Thursday night, gaining a minuscule measure of revenge for getting upset by the last Ivy League team the Bruins played, Princeton in the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament.

But it doesn’t take an Ivy League education to recognize the Bruins might be in a tad of trouble Saturday when No. 20 Georgetown visits Westwood.

“We were terrible the last 10 minutes,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “It might sound off the wall, but I think this game prepared us well for Georgetown. This was a grinder type of game, possession by possession.”

Any grinding heard in Pauley Pavilion might have been teeth from the crowd of 8,990. If home is where the heart is, Bruin fans are getting used to having theirs rise into their throats.

First it was a loss to Pepperdine, then narrow victories over UC Riverside and UC Irvine. Tension mounted again when Columbia (7-5) cut a 22-point deficit to 59-55 with 1:42 to play.

This was only about 10 minutes after UCLA led, 50-28, and the Bruins (8-2) did their best to make it closer.

A Columbia foul gave UCLA a fresh 35-second clock with 1:19 to play, but Matt Barnes shot--and missed--two seconds after taking the inbounds pass. Columbia could not capitalize, however, when a tip-in by Joe Case was ruled offensive goaltending and the Lions missed their last three shots, all from three-point range.

Barnes made a free throw with 42 seconds left and Jason Kapono made four from the line in the final 20 seconds to spare UCLA what would have been an embarrassment of unfathomable depths.

“We got too comfortable and stopped playing defense in the last 10 minutes,” Barnes said. “We need to play a full 40 minutes. We’re working toward that. We’re a work in progress.”

This was the first home game this season missed by John Wooden. Perhaps the 91-year-old former coach felt a victory would come easily against Columbia. Then again, he’s seen enough of this team to know better.

The game was also missed by Cedric Bozeman, who has sat out all six victories since undergoing knee surgery Dec. 3. Lavin had said the freshman point guard would play a few minutes and Bozeman was cleared by doctors, but he did not practice enough Wednesday to merit playing time.

Whether Bozeman plays against Georgetown will depend on how he looks today in practice.

Whether the Bruins have a chance against the Hoyas will depend on their well-chronicled ability to gear up for ranked opponents. UCLA’s only impressive victory during the winning streak came against then-No. 16 Alabama in the Wooden Classic.

“We are starting to find our groove, but we can’t seem to put two good halves together,” said Kapono, who continued his own pattern of starting slow and heating up in the second half.

Fourteen of his 16 points came after halftime, and he broke the school record for career three-pointers by making two, giving him 199. Kapono also had 11 rebounds and four assists.

Billy Knight, in contrast, scored all of his 14 points in the first half. T.J. Cummings was the only Bruin to play well throughout, scoring 18 points despite fighting a cold.

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