After Loss, Bruins Look to Rebound

A 29-point loss ought to stir anger in the vanquished. It did a year ago, to the day.

UCLA lost by 29 at California, got mad, beat No. 1 Stanford, went home glad.

However, the 91-62 humiliation at Oregon on Thursday prompted more dismay than steam.

Oh, forward Matt Barnes woke up sore Friday, but a neck spasm was the reason. He is questionable for tonight’s game at Oregon State.

Otherwise, the Bruins calmly tried to explain their poor performance, and what they might do about it. It was less than convincing.

“Everybody was playing real bad, but we’ve got to move on,” center Dan Gadzuric said. “You can’t hold your head down and keep thinking about it.”

Added forward Jason Kapono: “We’re not a very consistent team right now. Our minds weren’t in the game throughout. I don’t know why. We should have been.”

Coach Steve Lavin is taking a clinical approach to discovering an answer.

“We respond by watching video, formulating a game plan, making adjustments and continuing to try to become a better basketball team,” he said. “I’ve been saying we are a month or so from being where we want to be, where we aren’t beating ourselves.”

Last season, fiery senior guard Earl Watson would get indignant about a loss and passionate about turning it around. But Watson isn’t around anymore and UCLA (14-6, 6-4 in Pacific 10 Conference play) continues to search for an identity. The full-court press came and went. So did pushing the ball up the floor offensively.

Lately, the Bruins believe they are best when deliberate. Making six or seven passes and whittling down the shot clock leads to high-percentage shots, the thinking goes.

But against Oregon, the shots weren’t falling and the Ducks cranked up the pace in transition while the Bruins moseyed back on defense at the same plodding pace they used on offense.

All that shifting gears, the slowing down and speeding up, takes more energy than going hard all the time. Doesn’t a car use less gas flying down the freeway than stopping and starting in city traffic?

“It is difficult playing at two speeds,” guard Billy Knight said. “Sometimes you get confused and go too fast on offense.

“Right now we look like a slow team, a half-court team. That seems to suit us better. But we have to play defense hard all the time. We can’t dictate the pace our opponent will play.”

As for the video, Lavin must have recognized that whenever Gadzuric had the ball at the high post, his defender backed off and dared him to shoot. Often, the Bruin center didn’t even notice because his back was to the basket.

“I’ve got to turn and face the basket and put the ball on the floor or take the shot if it’s there,” he said.

Defensively, Gadzuric has gone from indiscriminately contesting every venture into the key and racking up fouls to resembling a matador with a cape.

“He’s in a Catch-22,” Lavin said. “He wants to stay out of foul trouble, but he has to play defense, because he does it well.”

The other glaring problem is a lack of production from freshman point guard Cedric Bozeman, who lacks aggressiveness and creativity. He’s waiting for something to happen rather than making something happen.

Bozeman was scoreless for the third time in seven games, four of which are losses. UCLA has lost three of four, an identity is out there somewhere, but it remains elusive.