Knight Perks Up the Bruins’ Day

Knight and day has nothing to do with opposites. It’s like peas and carrots, a horse and carriage, or any other corny saying about a perfect match.

Give Billy Knight a basketball with the sun high in the sky outside the gym. Watch the points rain.

The UCLA senior scored a career-high 32 points in an 81-69 victory over Washington State on Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins’ ninth win in a row and fourth without a loss in Pacific 10 Conference play.

Knight made six of nine three-point shots, including three in the first seven minutes. His teammates got him the ball early because, well, that’s the way he likes it.

He typically rises by 6 a.m. and is in the gym by 7. And unless there’s a night game, he’s in bed when many college students are prowling around at parties.

“Not many good things happen at night,” he said. “So I sleep then and get up early.”

The earlier the game, the better. Five of his six highest-scoring games last season came in day games, including his previous career-high of 22 points against Stanford.

“Last Wednesday he was coming out of the Wooden Center gym at 1 p.m. when the rest of the team was showing up for practice,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “He’s always somewhere shooting.”

Knight also enjoyed playing on a Sunday. Normally, he’s up early for church. “I knew it was going to be a good day because God was watching over me,” he said.

The crowd of 8,834 saw the day go UCLA’s way down the stretch after the Bruins (11-2) continued another pattern--this one somewhat disturbing--of letting an inferior opponent stay too close for comfort.

Washington State (4-8, 0-4) tied the score, 59-59, with 8:15 to play, and it took another scoring string by Knight to create a comfortable margin. He made a three-point shot with 7:10 left, sank two free throws and a 14-foot shot to put the Bruins up, 69-61, then followed four Cougar points by nailing a three-point shot with 2:44 to play.

A short time later the Bruin student section began chanting, “Beat SC,” a reference to the matchup between the cross-town rivals Thursday at the Forum.

That game is on everyone’s mind.

“[Trojan seniors] Brandon Granville and David Bluthenthal are my friends, and I know they are real salty about losing, they want a win against us,” Knight said.

USC has defeated the Bruins once in the last 14 meetings. But that streak pales in comparison to UCLA’s dominance over Washington State, which has lost 19 in a row to UCLA and has never defeated the Bruins in Los Angeles.

Even an inspired performance from flu-ridden Mike Bush couldn’t change Cougar fortunes. The senior guard helped keep Washington State within 39-38 at halftime with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. But his energy waned in the second half, and he finished with 18 points and did not add a rebound or assist.

In contrast, Jason Kapono was cold in the first half and solid in the second--still another Bruin pattern. He scored 12 of his 16 points after halftime, including a putback of his missed shot with 1:03 left to extend the lead to seven.

“He always makes some sort of big play down the stretch, always,” Washington State Coach Paul Graham said.

“You have to be aware of where he is, so when Billy Knight shoots the way he did, it’s tough. Then just when you forget about Kapono, he kills you.”

Feeding Knight and Kapono were Matt Barnes, who had seven assists, and Rico Hines, who had four. Barnes has 15 assists in the last two games.

Hines took three charges and although he scored only two points in 27 minutes, his tenacity on defense helped limit the Cougars to 41.1% shooting.

UCLA is 9-0 since Hines became a starter when freshman guard Cedric Bozeman had knee surgery. Bozeman has come off the bench the last two games, and was less effective than he was Thursday against Washington, committing four turnovers in six first-half minutes and scoring two points.

In fact, none of the three Bruin freshmen contributed much--Dijon Thompson scored two points, Andre Patterson scored three, and neither had a rebound.

“They’ll all come around,” Knight said. “They are great players. They just need playing time and consistency.”

And, he could add, enough sleep. That’s the proven method to have a Knight-like day.