Men’s Basketball Notes

Monday, January 6, 1997

Kansas 96,

UCLA 83

Behind sophomore forward Raef LaFrentz’ career-high 31 points,
the top-ranked Jayhawks cruised past the No. 17 Bruins.

Kansas’ Ryan Robertson, who started at the point guard spot in
place of injured Jacque Vaughn, went scoreless, but had 11 assists
in the game. Another key contributor for the Jayhawks was guard
Billy Thomas, who came off the bench to knock down four of six
shots from beyond the arc.

UCLA committed 26 turnovers, led by Jelani McCoy’s eight
mishandles.

Charles O’Bannon led the Bruins with 20 points and six
rebounds.

UCLA 72,

Ohio U. 61

After a week of final examinations, the Bruins notched a
less-than-stellar win against Ohio U. UCLA held a tenuous 66-61
lead with just 37 seconds remaining in the game, but went on a 6-0
scoring run in the waning moments to secure the win.

O’Bannon and J.R. Henderson led the team with 16 points each.
For Ohio U., 5-foot-8-inch guard Geno Ford led the charge with 21
points and five assists.

UCLA 93,

Jackson State 67

UCLA shot a sizzling 71.1 percent from the field for 40 minutes,
while holding the Tigers to an abysmal 36.5 percent. The Bruins
also outrebounded their undersized opponents 43 to 31, en route to
their first back-to-back wins of the season.

Getting in on the act for the Bruins was freshman Sean Farnham,
who scored three points and pulled down three rebounds, both career
highs.

Illinois 79, UCLA 63

The setting for UCLA’s first road game of the season was versus
Illinois at the United Center in Chicago, where the Bruins fumbled
their way into their third loss of the young season. UCLA
accumulated 23 turnovers, while the Illinois had just 13.

Illinois propelled into the top-25 rankings after beating UCLA.
Bryan Notree, Chris Gandy, Matt Heldman and Kiwane Garris all
finished the game in double figures.

UCLA 64,

St. Louis 57

The Bruins improved their record to 4-3 with a win against the
Billikans, and they accomplished it in a highly unusual way for a
UCLA team ­ zone defense.

Head coach Steve Lavin benched Cameron Dollar in favor of Kris
Johnson at the two guard. With Toby Bailey running the show for
most of the game, the Bruins used a full-court trap and dropped
down to a match-up zone.

"I’ve always hated zones, and I hope the basketball gods, guys
like (Purdue head coach) Gene Keady, forgive me for playing zone
for 40 minutes," Lavin said. "But it’s so effective, we’ve got to
keep looking at it."

UCLA 87,

Morgan State 72

On the list of "Bruin attitudes" posted in the UCLA locker room,
rule No. 3 states, "Don’t be late (NO EXCUSES)."

In the Bruins’ easy victory over the Bears, Henderson, Jelani
McCoy and Johnson may have forgotten their Bruin attitudes, showing
up late for a shootaround. This prompted Lavin to bench the three
for the second time this season (the same thing happened in the
second game of the season against Cal State Northridge). But
ironically, they were the three leading scorers for UCLA.

McCoy led the way with 16 points (seven of seven from the
field), while Henderson and Johnson chipped in with 14 points
each.

"As a coach, when players go out of line, it’s your job to get
them back in line," Lavin said. "That doesn’t mean you don’t love
them."

UCLA 84, Washington St. 56

Opening up the Pacific 10 conference schedule, the Bruins
recorded their most impressive win of the season. Key to the win
was UCLA’s cutting down on its sloppy play, amassing just 16
turnovers in 40 minutes of play.

"When you’re playing up-tempo and pressing, and you’re able to
score 84 points, you don’t mind having 16 turnovers," Lavin said.
"Kansas is averaging over 20 turnovers a game, but they’re playing
high speed and putting a lot of points on the board. You’re playing
slow, and you have 24 turnovers ­ that’s when you’re in
trouble."