In the End, It’s the Style Points That Cost Bruins

It was an appropriate ending for a season that went nowhere.

UCLA froze.

It was a fitting finish to an unbending coach’s first year.

UCLA tuned Ben Howland out.

It wasn’t Detroit Mercy but, mercy, it was bad, the beginning of this new era covered in the same sweat-darkened shirt as the old one.

Howland’s honeymoon ended with the Honeymooners on Thursday, his Bruins blowing an 11-point lead before surrendering to hijinks and confusion.

It was Washington 91, UCLA 83, in the first round of a Pacific 10 tournament that was a beginning for both.

For the Huskies, winners of 13 of their last 15 games, this should ensure a bid to the NCAA tournament.

For the Bruins, winners of two of their last 16 games, this should ensure a summer of careful reflection.

By imposing his conservative system on a team clearly not suited for it, did Howland waste six months of everybody’s time?

After seeing this season’s results, will next season’s four high-flying recruits buy into this system quickly enough to lead this team back to the dance?

“This has been a learning year for us ... learning Coach Howland, how he coaches, and it’s been tough,” admitted Dijon Thompson late Thursday. “We have run a lot more sets. I didn’t think it would be this tough.”

Through the season, Howland insisted that his talent adjust to his style, not vice-versa.

In the end, though, the players had the last word. Don’t they always?

Running and leaping throughout most of the game Thursday, the Bruins looked like their high school press clippings, Ryan Hollins blocking, Trevor Ariza stealing, Brian Morrison gunning.

They scored on 12 consecutive possessions in the first half, going on a 27-10 run, looking like the UCLA some of us still remember.

“We played within ourselves, did what we knew we could do, and it was fun,” Thompson said.

But then, with the score tied at 80 in the final two minutes, they reverted to the deliberate style that Howland had been hammering into them, a style as unfamiliar to a Southern California schoolboy as a snowy playground.

“And you saw what happened,” Thompson said.

Their first possession of this sequence, Cedric Bozeman dribbled around the three-point line while his teammates stared dispassionately at him, then he threw the ball directly to a Husky, leading to Tre Simmons’ layup and ensuing a foul shot for a three-point play.

“We had some mental breakdowns,” said Bozeman.

Now trailing, Ariza took the ball at the beginning of the next possession and, without looking to pass, dribbled to the hoop, where Hakeem Rollins blocked his shot, leading to two more successful Husky free throws.

“Down the stretch, we lost our penetration,” said T.J. Cummings.

After Morrison’s fifth three-pointer pulled the Bruins back within two points, they again suffered brain cramps, with Morrison’s fouling Simmons about two miles from the basket.

The Huskies converted two free throws, then, after another quick Bruin miss, two more free throws to clinch it.

Its season on the line, UCLA scored on only one of its last nine possessions. And only one Bruin, Morrison, scored in the last four minutes.

Explaining that his team was not confused, Howland said, “Our problem was the inability to execute a play down the stretch.”

But the bigger problem is, the Huskies knew the Bruins could not execute a play down the stretch.

“Our guys kept fighting, no matter what,” said the Huskies’ Nate Robinson, who is 5-foot-9 yet blocked one of Cummings’ shots. “We knew, if we jell together as a team, they’re going to break.”

They have been breaking all year to the point that, when historians begin examining the pieces today, they will find perhaps the most disappointing Bruin team in four decades.

This is the lowest-scoring team since 1960. This is the first time since 1960 that the Bruins had no players on the 10-player, Pac-10 All Conference team.

So, low scores and no stars. Hmmmm. Not exactly a recruiting poster.

“We need to play better defense, we need to be better at teaching defense, we need to get stronger, we need to do a better job all the way around,” said Howland.

But do they also need to adjust this philosophy?

Maybe, just, you know, mix in a fast break here or there?

Howland was asked, if watching the Bruins play so well at a fast pace Thursday, whether he would consider using a heavier foot next season.

“We were running off stops tonight,” said Howland, shaking his head.

In other words, the guys can run the L.A. way once they learn to play defense the Ben Howland way?

“Yes,” Howland said. “That, and rebound.”

Well, bored Bruins, there you have it. Sounds like a promise. For Howland’s system to eventually work with this program, in this town, it is a promise that best be kept.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.