Bruins Recall Devil of a Rout

The Arizona State men’s basketball team has lost five of six games and two of its most promising players. Last week, after its Seattle-to-Spokane flight was canceled because of bad weather, the team needed 10 hours for a trip that usually takes 45 minutes.

But if the Sun Devils are searching for sympathy from UCLA tonight, they might want to look elsewhere.

The Bruins, riding a five-game winning streak, are still steamed about the way Arizona State manhandled them last season in a 104-75 victory at Wells Fargo Arena. That, after UCLA beat the Sun Devils, 83-77, three weeks earlier at Pauley Pavilion.

“Their whole team was talking,” UCLA forward Matt Barnes recalled of the 29-point stomping. “People on the bench were talking, the crowd. It was crazy. And there was nothing we could say. All we could do was just mark the date on our calendar and remember.”

Now, the Bruins are looking for payback. They are 3-0 in Pacific 10 Conference play for the first time under Coach Steve Lavin, and they have leaned on their press to dictate the tempo of games.

Meanwhile, the Sun Devils are reeling. They are 0-4 in conference games and are sorely missing guard Eddie House, who finished his four-year career last season as ASU’s all-time leading scorer. In the pasting of the Bruins, he torched them for 40 points.

“I’m sure they miss House; we’ve lost some people too,” Barnes said. “They probably have some people that can step in and pick up the slack.”

Maybe so, but the Sun Devils also are without two up-and-coming sophomores, Tanner Shell and Justin Allen. Shell, who averaged 9.1 points in Pac-10 games as a freshman, suffered a broken left hand in a December practice and will be out the remainder of the season. Allen is redshirting after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, although he is expected to return next season.

Things have gone a bit smoother for UCLA, which overcame a bumpy start and found a rhythm. The Bruins are still struggling in their halfcourt offense and have had stretches when their press has broken down, but have found ways to win.

The Bruins could be without center Dan Gadzuric tonight. He’s questionable for the game after suffering back spasms in Saturday’s victory over Villanova. He played nine minutes in that game, then left after landing the wrong way while trying to grab a rebound.

With or without Gadzuric, Lavin is cautiously optimistic.

“We continue to learn from our failures and our setbacks and get better,” he said. “But now it starts all over again. We could go into the desert and get swept, and then we’ll be right back where we started again. That’s the challenge we all face.”

Thanks to last season’s embarrassing loss at Arizona State, though, Lavin has not needed to spend extra time hammering the importance of this game into the minds of his players.

“From jump ball they just beat us,” guard Ryan Bailey recalled. “We weren’t in the game at all.”

The worst part was the flight home, Bailey said.

“Everyone’s head was down,” he said. “It was an hour flight, and it felt like the longest hour I’ve ever been through. Felt like I was sitting through class or something.”