Along Comes Pauley for the Cardinal

From the teams of Steve Lavin to those of Ben Howland, from players like Baron Davis and Toby Bailey to Dijon Thompson and Jordan Farmar, from UCLA squads that didn’t even qualify for the NCAA tournament to those that reached the Sweet 16, there has been one constant.

When Stanford comes to Pauley Pavilion, it wins.

Not since the 1996-97 season have the Bruins beaten the Cardinal in Westwood, a losing streak that has reached eight games. Overall, UCLA has lost six in a row to Stanford.

There’s no mystery about how the Cardinal has been able to maintain its dominance over the Bruins. In a sport where the turnover in personnel from season to season can be extreme, Stanford has had consistent success, going 206-53 over the last eight seasons. Last season’s 18-13 record was the poorest over that span, yet, at 11-7 in Pacific 10 Conference play, the Cardinal was still able to tie UCLA for third in the conference.

Tonight starts a new conference season and for the Bruins, playing host to Stanford, a new chance to get this streak off their collective backs.

“They are comfortable playing here,” said UCLA forward Cedric Bozeman, who, as a fifth-year senior, has suffered through more than half the streak. “We have to change that intensity-wise. In the past, they have come out here and jumped on us early. We will have to raise our energy level.”

In making the case that eight is enough, the Bruins can counter the Stanford winning streak with some flashy numbers of their own. At 10-1 and ranked 11th in the nation, UCLA is off to its best start since the 1994-95 season, a season that ended with an NCAA championship. Stanford is 4-4.

“We were bad defensively,” said Trent Johnson, in his second season as Cardinal coach. “We have gotten better, but if we’re not willing to stick our nose in there defensively and get after people, we are going to struggle.”

Stanford really struggled at the start of this month, losing to Montana, UC Davis and Virginia Tech.

Howland, however, is more focused on three of the players who will be in Stanford’s starting lineup tonight -- guards Dan Grunfeld and Chris Hernandez and center Matt Haryasz.

“I think they have the three best players on one team in the conference,” Howland said.

The mere fact that Grunfeld is not only on the court, but doing well (14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds) is impressive. There was no guarantee Grunfeld would be in uniform this early in the season, considering he tore a ligament in his right knee in February.

As the son of Ernie Grunfeld, a former NBA player and a long-time NBA executive, Dan was all too familiar with the arduous regimen required for a player to get back on his feet after such a serious injury. Months of rehab have enabled Grunfeld to not only return to the court, but to return at a high skill level.

Bozeman can relate. He sat out a season because of the same injury but is back this season in the Bruins’ starting lineup.

“I feel for him,” said Bozeman of Grunfeld, “and I’m sure he feels for me.”

Howland knows the feeling of losing injured players all too well. An injury-plagued summer and fall has extended into the conference season. Center Ryan Hollins will be out several weeks after straining his groin in pregame warmups Friday, and center Michael Fey is expected to play only limited minutes tonight after spraining an ankle earlier this week when he stepped on Farmar’s foot in practice.

It’s not all bleak news for UCLA, however. Forward Josh Shipp might get his first minutes of the season tonight, three months after undergoing surgery for torn cartilage in a hip. Although Shipp has been participating fully in practice, Howland says he won’t make a final decision on playing Shipp until today.

Even with the addition of Shipp, however, Howland insists his team can draw no comfort from the fact its record this season is far superior to that of the Cardinal.

“That’s all done now,” he said. “This is a whole new season. Everyone is 0-0.”

Except the Bruins at home against Stanford, where they are 0-8 and counting.

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Rude guests

UCLA’s eight-game home losing streak against Stanford:

*--* * Feb. 12, 1998 No. 14 Stanford 84, No. 9 UCLA 81 Two late turnovers negate Bruin comeback. * Jan. 16, 1999 No. 4 Stanford 72, No. 10 UCLA 59 10-0 run late in the second half lifts Cardinal. * Feb. 3, 2000 No. 2 Stanford 78, UCLA 63 Bruins start slowly, trail, 38-22, at half. * March 3, 2001 No. 1 Stanford 85, No. 12 UCLA 79 Cardinal avenges earlier loss at home. * Jan. 24, 2002 No. 17 Stanford 86, No. 13 UCLA 76 Casey Jacobsen’s 20 points lift Cardinal. * Feb. 22, 2003 No. 21 Stanford 93, UCLA 84 Loss drops Bruins to 6-17. * Feb. 21, 2004 No. 1 Stanford 73, UCLA 60 Cardinal (23-0) clinches Pacific 10 title. * Jan. 20, 2005 Stanford 75, UCLA 64 Dan Grunfeld scores 25 points to sink Bruins.

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TONIGHT

vs. Stanford., 7:30 p.m. , FSN

Site -- Pauley Pavilion.

Radio -- 690.

Records -- UCLA 10-1, Stanford 4-4.

Update -- Center Matt Haryasz leads the Pac-10 in rebounding (10.1 a game) and is third in scoring (18.1). Right behind Haryasz among the conference rebounding leaders is UCLA’s Luc Richard Mbah a Moute with 8.9. Watch out for Stanford freshman forward Lawrence Hill. After totaling 11 rebounds in his first six games, he has 17 in his last two.

Tickets -- 310-825-2946.