Bruins look to tame red hot Wildcats

Bruins look to tame red hot Wildcats

M. hoops seeks revenge for Jan. 20 loss in Tuscon

By Scott Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Staff

In the interest of the Pacific 10 Conference men’s basketball
championship, there is little doubt that tonight’s 7:30 p.m.
showdown between No. 13 Arizona and No. 18 UCLA in Pauley Pavilion
is the most important game of the season.

Entering the contest, the Bruins (16-6 overall, 9-2 in the
Pac-10) stand alone at the top of the league standings, boasting a
one-game lead over Stanford (15-5, 8-3) and a one-and-a-half game
lead over the Wildcats (18-4, 7-3). Should UCLA win, it would have
to be the odds-on favorite to defend its conference title.

"If we don’t get them on Thursday, I don’t think anyone can
catch them," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "Even if we do get
them, they’re still in the driver’s seat because of their schedule,
but if we don’t get them, I think the race becomes for second
place."

Olson might not be so accurate in his assessment of a UCLA loss.
The Bruins have a difficult schedule remaining, with road games at
USC, Oregon and Oregon State, and they would be in a tie for first
place with Stanford, assuming the Cardinal beats Oregon
tonight.

The only reason Arizona wouldn’t be a part of the first-place
log jam is that the Wildcats haven’t played as many league games as
the other teams. Last Thursday, they defeated intra-state rival
Arizona State, 71-69, in Tempe, and followed that win with a 76-73
non-conference upset of No. 5 Cincinatti.

The win over the Bearcats was the 500th coaching victory for
Olson, though it wouldn’t have been possible without the heroics of
sophomore guard Miles Simon, who drained a 65-foot bomb as time
expired in the second half.

Simon, the current Pac-10 Player of the Week, has been playing
particularly well. He is averaging 13.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per
game, and turned in a team-high 16 points and six assists against
Arizona State.

None of that bodes well for UCLA, which was beaten by the
Wildcats 88-79 in Tucson Jan. 20. Prior to that matchup, Arizona
had been led by senior center Joseph Blair, who averaged 14.7
points and a league-leading 8.9 rebounds in the first 14 games of
the season.

But Blair, an academic champion, was ruled ineligible by the
university prior to the UCLA game, and it appeared that Bruin
center Jelani McCoy and forward J.R. Henderson would have a field
day in the post.

On the contrary, Simon took the game over from the outside,
scoring 28 points on nine-of-16 shooting, including six
three-pointers.

"When he’s been on, he’s really been on, and there have been
other games when he’s really struggled with his shooting, but I
think over all he’s had a solid year," Olson said of Simon. "Miles
has been a little inconsistent in terms of his scoring, but he
knows and understands the game, and his contributions are way
beyond just scoring."

Reserve guard Michael Dickerson had a strong game against the
Bruins as well, scoring 16 points on six-of-nine shooting,
including a perfect four-for-four clip from beyond the three-point
line.

Not that Arizona was weak in the middle. Forward Ben Davis, who
now leads the conference in rebounding with an average of nine per
game, had 15 points and 14 rebounds.

But the game, no doubt, was won from the perimeter, where as a
team, Arizona made 13 of its 20 three-point attempts.

And with Blair still trying to lift his grade point average to
an acceptable level, chances are the Wildcats will employ a similar
game plan tonight.

The Bruins – who boast the conference’s best field goal percent
defense – are expecting as much, but Olson maintains that extended
perimeter defense will only open other opportunities for his
team.

"With our situation now, we have to shoot the ball well to be
able to compete with a team of UCLA’s ability," he said. "There’s
another side to that, because if you’re going to pressure
three-point shooters, then you’re also going to have to stop
penetration.

"That was the key for us against Cincinatti, we took that press
apart and we got shots consistently in the lane areas by
penetrating."

Not that Olson is expecting an easy game against UCLA, which
still leads the nation in field goal percentage and is the only
team in the conference that boasts a winning record in its series
with the Wildcats.

"We know, going in there, that we’re going to have to play as
well as we can absolutely play," he said. "Even then, it’s going to
be a tough task because their size and their athleticism, and the
fact that they shoot the ball as well as they do – it’s not an
encouraging sign going in there.

"They may not be ready to play against somebody else, but we
don’t have to worry about them being ready to play us. The rivalry
has been a great rivalry, and I’m sure that this will not be a case
of anyone overlooking anyone."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Forward Charles O’ Bannon leads the Bruins in a crucial game
against Arizona.

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