Barnes Distances Himself

Sometimes a college student is lucky enough to have a gifted professor who clears the clouds and delivers a profound learning experience.

For Matt Barnes, the mentor was the distinguished Shane Battier of Duke University.

The lecture hall was First Union Center in Philadelphia, the class March Madness 2001. But it felt more like a correspondence course to the UCLA senior forward. Battier, assigned to guard him, took residence several area codes away.

“Battier sagged off me and gave my shot no respect,” Barnes said. “It really clogged up our offense. I’d have a shot and pass it up.

“That’s why we lost--because I didn’t produce when he was sagging.”

Within days of Duke eliminating UCLA from the NCAA tournament’s round of 16, Barnes decided to modernize his approach. He had dialed long distance in high school, shooting from the perimeter and even playing some point guard, but three years as a Bruin power forward left his game as obsolete as a rotary phone.

To have any chance of becoming an impact college player and piquing the interest of the NBA, there was only one solution: He learned how to use that fashionable orange hand-held.

“Matt spent the whole summer shooting and ball-handling,” Bruin forward Jason Kapono said. “He was with me for a month straight during the summer. He worked with my shooting coach and we took hundreds of shots every day.

“Now he’s feeling it. He’s done extremely well.”

Barnes is shooting 50% and averaging 14.0 points, both career bests. Every aspect of his offense has improved, none more dramatic than his shooting from three-point range. He is 24 for 57 (42.1%) after making 18 of 91 (19.8%) his first three seasons.

It took opponents time to recognize the change. After Barnes made his only two three-point shots and scored 15 points against Alabama on Dec. 8, Crimson Tide Coach Mark Gottfried said sarcastically, “It’s a good day for UCLA when Matt Barnes makes threes.”

The good days kept coming. Barnes had a five-game tear that began with a career-high 34 points against USC on Jan. 10. He scored 27 two days later in a victory over then No. 1-Kansas and followed it with 19 against Arizona State, 20 against Arizona and 20 against Stanford.

Now opposing coaches adopt a different tone.

“Barnes is playing as well as anyone in the conference,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “His game is well-rounded now. He can hurt you a lot of different ways.”

When the hot spell subsided, Barnes displayed maturity by cutting down on his shots. He scored only two points against Oregon on Thursday and was judicious two days later at Oregon State, making four of six shots and his only three-point attempt.

“I’m not going to jack threes if they aren’t going in,” he said. “Shooting is about finding rhythm, and I’m learning to recognize when I’m feeling it and when I’m not.”

The maturity is evident off the court as well. Barnes, who made the honor roll in the fall, is easily misunderstood. He wears a perpetual scowl and monster tattoos, the most prominent on his biceps displaying the words “Sac Town’s Finest” around a hulk-looking basketball player holding the remains of a ripped-down rim.

He avoids eye contact, yet has become smooth and confident in front of a camera, the rare player who can discuss his team in succinct and frank terms without resorting to cliches.

“I have to put on that front because, playing out of position the whole time, I had to act tough,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m not tough--if somebody gets in my face I’ll go right back at him--but I’m a really mellow person.

“I’m someone you can talk to, hang out with and have an intelligent conversation with.”

He also contradicts the prevailing theory that players don’t improve under Coach Steve Lavin. His shooting percentage, free-throw percentage and scoring average have risen every season and he leads the Bruins in assists with 70.

Although Barnes is considered a “tweener,”--too short to be a forward and not quick enough to be a guard--NBA scouting director Marty Blake said he will be invited to a pre-draft camp.

“I’m not saying he is going to be drafted, but he’ll get some interest,” Blake said. “He had to improve his shooting and prove he can play on the wing, and he’s on his way to doing that.”

The road hasn’t been without bumps that shaped his tough facade and ingrained a persistent work ethic. Lavin made Barnes a power forward as a freshman against his wishes and he sat on the bench for two years daydreaming about transferring or quitting basketball in favor of football--his best sport in high school.

“He came in as a wing and moved to power forward because we didn’t have many big guys,” senior Billy Knight said. “Me and him sat on the bench and talked about transferring. He could have quit, but he played through it.”

Before Barnes’ junior season he was conked in the head with a metal stool by teammate Rico Hines, and this season he twisted an ankle and twisted his neck yet missed only one game.

Nothing at UCLA, though, has been nearly as twisted as an unforgettable incident his senior year at Sacramento Del Campo High.

He confronted a male student a year younger than him who, Barnes said, had directed racial taunts at his sister, a freshman. The student made comments to him as well, and the 6-foot-7 Barnes threw the first punch. He was suspended for two games and several days of school.

When he returned, predominantly white Del Campo had been vandalized, with “Die Barnes” and swastikas spray-painted on walls. A school building was set on fire and the Sacramento County sheriff’s office called the arson a hate crime.

“No one in the administration believed me about what that kid said,” Barnes said. “There was never an apology, nothing from the school. My friends and some of the staff signed a big sign for me when I came back, stuff like, ‘We love you Matt,’ but even at that, there was a kid who snuck a racial slur on the sign.”

No wonder Barnes, whose father is African American and his mother of Italian descent, is guarded. He looks into the sea of faces at Pauley Pavilion and can’t help but wonder how many harbor racist beliefs. The thought is fleeting, however.

“I moved past that, but it is always in the back of my mind,” he said. “It shows we haven’t come as far as we thought. In every crowd there are as many people who hate you as like you, and sometimes it is race-related.”

Barnes’ persona on the court doesn’t elicit warm fuzzies. He talks smack to opponents, grimaces at officials and is deadly earnest. Afterward, he loosens enough to become accessible and articulate, and even smiles once in a while.

In the locker room at Arizona State, a Phoenix television reporter thrust a microphone in his face and said, “You’ve been getting 30 and you were held to 19, was it that Devil defense?”

Barnes allowed himself a laugh at the irony before answering. He scored 19 or more points only four times in his first three seasons. Now he had been “held” to 19. That’s progress.

“All the work I did in the summer with Jason and playing against pros, it all rubbed off on me,” he said. “I expanded my game and I’m getting a chance to show it.”

Although Barnes is the third-best shooter on the team behind Kapono and Knight, Lavin loosened the reins this season.

“He’s hands-down on my side,” Barnes said. “He sees my ability to make plays, score, rebound and pass.”

Allowing him freedom made UCLA a better team. And he is better able to pursue his ultimate dream, the one lived out by players he has trained with and solicited advice from--Paul Pierce, Chris Webber and Magic Johnson.

“The NBA has always been a dream of mine,” he said. “My family has never really had anything, so that’s what I’m thinking about when I’m working out.”

College is all about preparing for a career, expanding horizons and increasing options.

Barnes might play in the pros; he might not. Either way, he’s way ahead.

It took Battier to lay down the most memorable lesson.

“Every day that went through my head,” Barnes said. “I vowed I would make teams pay for not respecting my shot. And never again will my team lose for that reason. I might miss, but I’ve worked and improved enough that I believe the shots will fall.”

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