Beating Up Bruins Is Stanford Strong Suit

It was another Maples Massacre in the making, with UCLA down by 21 points at halftime.

There might not be much shock value in the final score of Stanford’s 67-52 victory Thursday, but let there be no doubt: The Bruins were crushed by the No. 2-ranked Cardinal, one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the nation. (Saint Joseph’s is the other.)

UCLA was outrebounded, outrun and totally outdone.

Five days after a 25-point loss to Arizona, UCLA got another lesson on the gap between the Pacific 10’s two best teams and everyone else.

“We were beaten today by a vastly superior team in every aspect of the game, and most evident is just how much stronger they are physically,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

It was clear from the opening tip, after Stanford got four shots on its first possession.

“They were throwing their bodies around on the first possession of the game,” the Bruins’ Dijon Thompson said. “We batted the ball, but they ended up with it. It seemed like they had six offensive rebounds.”

Stanford (15-0, 6-0) won the first-half battle of the boards, 20-9, and even more galling to UCLA, the Cardinal actually outrebounded the Bruins on their defensive boards by one in the first half and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds.

“This is a game of strength and size, speed and quickness, and they have all of the above,” Howland said, calling the Cardinal a team capable of reaching the Final Four. “They’re very, very disciplined and very unselfish.”

Most of all, he couldn’t help repeating, they are very strong.

Justin Davis, the Cardinal power forward who sprinted and banged his way to 21 points and five rebounds and made 10 of 11 shots, said some of it is weightlifting and some of it is heart. Howland emphasized the weights.

“I think they’re actually physically stronger at every position in the starting five,” he said, noting that point guard Chris Hernandez has bench-pressed 315 pounds

“We don’t have one guy in our program who benches 300,” said Howland, who left behind a roster full of brawn at Pittsburgh for the Bruins’ slender reeds.

What might have bothered Howland most was that rebounding and transition defense were the two points of emphasis after the Arizona game, and Stanford not only beat the Bruins on the boards, the Cardinal players also beat UCLA’s more pedigreed athletes down the court.

“Mostly that’s effort,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “I don’t think if you took the UCLA guys out and put them in a race we’d beat them all the time.”

The Bruins (9-5, 5-2) had hoped to find some of their old comeback magic lurking in Maples Pavilion, where they had won three of the last four meetings, including two upsets of No. 1-ranked Stanford teams and a one-point loss during last year’s dismal final season under Steve Lavin.

By halftime, Stanford students were chanting, “Lavin’s better, Lavin’s better.” The 15-point final margin was UCLA’s second-worst at Maples Pavilion, trailing only the infamous 48-point Maples Massacre in 1997.

The main difference between the Lavin era and the Howland era Thursday was that the score was in the 50s and 60s instead of the 80s or 90s.

The Bruins played better in the second half, outscoring Stanford, 31-25, but by then it was academic.

For the second game in a row, the Bruin offense was thwarted by a zone defense, with UCLA unable to mount a three-point threat, particularly with sharpshooting guard Brian Morrison still on the bench recovering from a hamstring injury and not expected to play Saturday against California.

“We did not do a good job against [Arizona’s] zone Saturday so it didn’t surprise me,” Howland said.

Stanford got three three-pointers from Josh Childress, who scored 14 points in his first start in six games since returning from a foot injury.

Thompson, with 15 points, was the only UCLA player in double figures.

T.J. Cummings and Ryan Hollins each had seven rebounds, but they were not effective defensively, nor was Michael Fey, who had one rebound off the bench.

“[Hollins and Fey] are sophomores and have a long way to go to be able to play with [Rob] Little or Davis,” Howland said.

Cummings, who was held to six points and was outplayed by Davis, finished the game on the bench.

“That’s Coach’s decision,” he said.

Point guard Cedric Bozeman summed up the game simply.

“They just beat us,” he said. “They’re very, very good.”

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A Buzz Saw

No. 2 Stanford is 15-0, winning by an average of more than 15 points a game -- also the margin by which the Cardinal defeated UCLA Thursday. Per-game averages for Stanford and its opponents:

*--* Stanford Opponent Points 75.2 59.9 *First Half 37.6 25.4 Field-Goal % 48.5% 39.6% Free Throws Made 17.2 10.8 Rebounds 37.5 28.0 Assists 17.0 9.8

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*NOTE: Stanford has scored the same number of points in each half -- 564.