M. hoops rolls over CSUN in first victory

M. hoops rolls over CSUN in first victory

By Randy Satterburg

Daily Bruin Staff

The sixth-ranked UCLA men’s basketball team showed some
interesting new looks in its 1994-95 debut ­ an 83-60 triumph
over Cal State Northridge ­ and it had nothing to do with
baggy shorts.

Instead, the newest wrinkle in the Bruins’ game plan called for
force in numbers to overwhelm the overmatched Matadors with a
trapping and pressing defense that held CSUN to a woeful 35.7
shooting percentage Saturday in Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA shuffled players in and out for its own version of a "40
minutes of hell" pressure defense ­ made famous by Nolan
Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks ­ as 10 different players
each received at least 10 minutes of action, and nine Bruins scored
four points or more.

And just when you thought you had seen it all, there was George
Zidek ­ who led UCLA in scoring with 14 points ­
spearheading the full-court press, helping force a 10-second
violation one moment while turning an open-court steal into points
the next.

"Pressing is a gamble, just like going to Vegas," UCLA head
coach Jim Harrick said. "But I have a feeling we play a little
better that way. I think we have a team that can press some this
year."

The gamble paid off against Northridge as the Bruins recorded
nine steals and forced 22 turnovers to coast to a win in their
season-opener.

With Kentucky on the horizon at the Wooden Classic Dec. 3,
Harrick wasted no time in throwing the Bruins’ freshmen into the
mix to learn the nuances of the three different presses the Bruins
utilized Saturday. At one point in the first half, all four
newcomers were on the floor for UCLA along with sophomore Cameron
Dollar.

Toby Bailey took high-scoring honors among the freshmen with his
nine points in 15 minutes of action. He made quite an impression on
the home crowd midway through the first half when he appeared to
jump out of the gym for a one-handed, throw-down dunk.

Bailey also impressed Harrick enough to earn a starting role at
shooting guard for the beginning of the second half.

"I think Coach (Harrick) is considering me to be one of the
starters, but he hasn’t made up his mind yet," Bailey said. "But
I’m not coming in expecting to start right off."

The Bruins started off right away against Northridge, scoring on
their first six possessions and jumping out to an 11 point lead in
the first five minutes, 18-7. After holding a tenuous lead at 6-5,
the Matadors trailed 47-30 at halftime and would get no closer than
a 12-point deficit the rest of the way.

At 6 feet, 8 inches, center Peter Micelli was Northridge’s
tallest starter and its leading scorer with 17 points. But he was
no match on the defensive end against UCLA’s strength up front,
especially Zidek, who had his way inside against the under-sized
Micelli.

UCLA dominated the war on the glass, with 44 rebounds to just 28
for the Matadors.

"Our kids just aren’t as quick or as talented as UCLA’s, that’s
just reality," CSUN head coach Pete Cassidy said.

Or as deep.

UCLA benefitted from having fresh players on the court at all
times as no UCLA starter had more than 28 minutes. Even though the
scoring totals for Ed O’Bannon (11 points) and Tyus Edney (8
points) were down from last season, they did not seem to mind
sharing the burden a little more.

"It wasn’t about seeing how many points we could outscore them
by today," Ed O’Bannon said. "The main thing we wanted to work on
was playing hard and playing together and I think we did that."

Edney logged 26 minutes of action, spelled at the point by
Dollar for the most part. But Edney also saw 6-9 freshman J.R.
Henderson (eight points) bring the ball up-court for the Bruins in
the second half when both he and Dollar were on the bench.

"It’s fun to watch them," Edney said of UCLA’s freshmen. "I
think they are all really talented, and there’s no drop off when
they go in."