UCLA Uses Spread Offense to Win Third in Row, 75-57

Who needs Jason Kapono or Dan Gadzuric?

UCLA certainly didn’t Saturday, instead leaning on its supporting cast to brush aside Washington State, 75-57, at Pauley Pavilion and cruise to a Pacific 10 Conference sweep of the Washington schools and a third consecutive victory.

The Bruins, who have won five of six, improved to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in Pac-10 play. Washington State, which has never beaten UCLA in Los Angeles, dropped to 6-5 and 0-2.

“This just showed we can play with balance,” said Kapono, who was limited to six points, a dozen shy of his team-leading average. “I was just like a little side thought. Everyone was playing well, so it wasn’t like I had to come out and get 20 or do something crazy.”

Likewise, the Cougars put the clamps on Gadzuric, who was coming off his two best games of the season--victories over Purdue and Washington--in which he shot a combined 16 of 18 from the field. Against Washington State, he grabbed 12 rebounds but was limited to six points.

That opened the door for some unlikely heroes. The first to surface was junior swingman Billy Knight, who came into the game averaging 10 minutes and 3.5 points a game. He knew Saturday would be different, though, when he knocked down a trio of three-pointers in the first half.

“I knew I had to keep making my shots to stay in the game,” said Knight, whose 14-point afternoon fell a point short of his career high. “I had been down on myself because of my shooting for a while now.”

Knight went to extremes to get his game back on track, but more on that in a moment. He wasn’t the only reserve to make an impact in the game.

Freshman forward T.J. Cummings came off the bench for Gadzuric and contributed 11 points, five rebounds and a block. Cummings said he had an inkling he might have a big game if the Cougars keyed on Gadzuric--which they did.

“Dan told me before the game, ‘This might be your chance to shine, because the last couple of games I’ve been making big strides and playing well,’ ” Cummings said. “So I just did what he asked and played hard. . . . I was thinking defense first, then letting my offense take care of itself.”

That philosophy was team-wide. As they have since the second half of the Dec. 23 loss to North Carolina, the Bruins relied on the press to jump-start their offense. Saturday, they came out in a full-court version, shuttled players in and out, and forced Washington State into nine turnovers in the first half.

The Cougars didn’t get many good shots, either, and it didn’t help their cause that they were two for 17 from behind the three-point arc. They finished 21 of 54 from the floor (38.9%).

No one was hotter from long range than Knight, who came into the game having made a modest 29.4% of his three-point shots (five of 17).

To sharpen his shooting this week, he spent hour upon hour in his parents’ backyard in Ladera Heights, where his father has tricked up an asphalt basketball court with a series of contraptions.

There are four baskets of varying sizes--some smaller, demanding more precise shooting--and a couple of 7-foot mannequins made of stacked tires with sticks for arms and Styrofoam hands.

Knight and his younger brother, Eric, a sophomore guard for Los Angeles Southwest College, often stay up past midnight practicing at the makeshift house of horrors. Their father, Bill, a retired police investigator, monitors the progress of his sons.

“Every shot I miss, my dad gets mad,” Billy said. “When I miss a shot here, it’s no big deal. But when I miss a shot at home, my dad gets so mad when I miss one shot. He says, ‘Never play around.’ ”

Knight said his father never played college ball but he’s a hoops junkie who studies coaching techniques and knows a lot about the game.

“We used to have arguments because I thought I knew everything,” Billy said. “It turned out, he really did know a lot about basketball. He’s just experienced.”

So Knight and his brother put in the hours, sometimes taking 1,000 shots a session. Saturday, the hard work showed.