USC, UCLA Get Docked by Bay

UCLA basketball Coach Steve Lavin has had better nights. When he looked into the Haas Pavilion stands Thursday, he couldn’t help but notice the hundreds of California students waving photocopies of Rick Pitino bearing the caption “I got next, Lavin.”

What was happening on the court was even less encouraging. Looking as raw and unpolished as they have all season, the Bruins were clobbered by Cal, 92-63, before a packed house of 12,172 that howled with ear-splitting delight.

“We couldn’t buy a basket,” Lavin said. “We didn’t play with much poise, and we were a step slow on defense all night.”

Students swarmed the court just after the clock expired, celebrating Cal’s second-largest margin of victory over the Bruins. The Bears’ biggest blowout of UCLA came 78 seasons ago and was a 49-16 victory--or 47-15--depending on which school’s media guide you’re reading.

UCLA’s loss Thursday was not only humiliating, it was costly. The Bruins were hoping for at least a split on their Bay Area trip to stay in the Pacific 10 Conference race. Now, they face the daunting task of knocking off No. 1 Stanford at Maples Pavilion on Saturday.

The Bruins, who dropped to 12-6 overall, 6-2 in Pac-10 play, have to play Stanford, USC and DePaul on the road before they return to Pauley Pavilion. Waiting for them when they return home in two weeks? Arizona, which whomped them by 25 in Tucson this season. In a word: ouch.

Things don’t get much uglier than they did Thursday, when the Bruins fell behind by as many as 22 points in the first half and missed 10 of 11 three-point shots during that span. Along the way, they kissed their composure goodbye. Cal led at halftime, 48-28.

“We didn’t score much, so we weren’t able to get into our press,” Lavin said. “That was the thing that hurt us. When we don’t score and we don’t get to the foul line, we’re not able to get our press set up.”

Cal (15-5, 6-2), which ran its home winning streak to 14 games, got stronger and stronger. It seemed the Bears couldn’t miss from long range in the first half, making seven of 10 three-pointers and 62.1% of their shots from the field (18 of 29).

Six Cal players scored in double figures, including Ryan Forehan-Kelly, who scored a game-high 16 points and nailed four shots from behind the arc. The Bears’ 13 three-pointers tied a school record, and their 29 assists tied their best mark in a Pac-10 game.

“They were just on fire today and we didn’t bring our fire,” Bruin guard Ray Young said. “It seemed like they were hitting everything and we weren’t rotating like we usually are. We didn’t play with our passion today. Nobody had energy or fire, and with the crowd, and them hitting every shot they took, we just couldn’t come back.”

The first 20 minutes were strikingly similar to UCLA’s first half at Cal last season, when the Bruins fell behind by 19. In that game, though, UCLA roared back with a stirring second-half rally and won by 21--outscoring the home team, 71-31, in the final 26 minutes.

“All of us remember that game,” Cal forward Sean Lampley said. “It was in the back of our minds. This team gave us our last home loss. We knew what we had to do, and we did it.”

Said UCLA forward Matt Barnes: “At halftime, we talked about being down by 20 just like last year. But they came out in the second half and didn’t cool off. We figured we’d taken their best shot in the first half, but in the second half they came out even hotter. There really wasn’t much we could do with them tonight. It was just one of those nights where they’ve got everything going and we don’t have anything.”

So there was no encore of last season’s comeback. The only carbon-copy performance Thursday was going on in the stands, where fans were waving those Pitino pictures. On the back was a face shot of Bruin center Dan Gadzuric reading simply: “Huh?”

On the court, Gadzuric wasn’t the only player looking a bit confused. All the Bruins had that gaze.

“We didn’t even play up to a C level,” freshman forward T.J. Cummings said. “We were more like a D or an F. We really struggled tonight.”

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College Basketball

Pacific 10 Standings

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Team W L Stanford 8 0 Arizona 6 2 California 6 2 UCLA 6 2 USC 5 3 Oregon 3 5 Oregon St. 2 6 Washington 2 6 Washington St. 1 7 Arizona St. 1 7

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ARIZONA UPSET

No. 7 Wildcats shot 35%, committed 18 turnovers in 79-67 loss to Oregon. D10

CAROLINA WINS

Haywood made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left to beat Duke, 85-83. D10