Looking for Answers After Villanova Loss

Questions and answers after UCLA’s perplexing upset at the hands of Villanova Saturday:

* Why did the Bruins employ a zone defense when other Villanova opponents were successful using a man-to-man?

The Bruins play zone most of the time because they aren’t quick enough to play man-to-man. When they overplay ballhandlers on the perimeter, they get beat off the dribble. Villanova’s 6-foot-10 Brooks Sales was able to illustrate this with 21.2 seconds left, darting by Matt Barnes and drawing a foul from center Dan Gadzuric. Sales made the free throws for the decisive points.

* Why didn’t Bruin Coach Steve Lavin call timeout to get leading scorer Jason Kapono in the game after Villanova pulled within one point with 75 seconds to play?

“We only had one timeout left, and with Billy [Knight] and Barnes in there, we had shooters,” Lavin said.

UCLA frittered away 32 seconds, looking nervous and confused, and Kapono came into the game after Villanova knocked the ball out of bounds with three on the shot clock.

The Bruins called their favorite inbound play in which Kapono throws in to Barnes, who shovels it back to Kapono for a three-point shot, but Villanova double-teamed Barnes and Kapono never touched the ball.

The timeout Lavin did not use to insert Kapono could have been called with six seconds left when Knight retrieved his missed shot with UCLA trailing by one. But the Bruin guard hurried an off-balance shot in front of the Bruin bench.

* Why were Lavin’s postgame comments rife with boxing metaphors?

“It was a tale of punch, counter-punch,” he said. “Villanova came out sharp and beat us to the punch. In the second half, both teams stepped up the intensity. We were down by eight or nine and did a good job of counter-punching.”

The game was as rough as anything in a ring.

And although Villanova Coach Jay Wright saluted UCLA for its toughness before the game, the Bruins left as black-and-blue as the shoes they wear.

Rico Hines was elbowed in the face trying to strip a rebound from Ricky Wright and went down hard. Hines, who only last week ceased getting headaches related to a concussion, was motionless for 20 seconds, then crawled off the court before timeout was called.

Cedric Bozeman also went down, writhing on the floor after bumping knees with Wright while attempting to make a steal with 3:16 to play.

Hines returned, Bozeman did not. Both players said afterward that they are fine, although Bozeman mentioned that his knee had been sore when he woke up Saturday morning. He had surgery on it in early December and missed seven games.

Steve Henson