UCLA tars and feathers Trojans

Thursday, January 22, 1998

UCLA tars and feathers Trojans

RECAP: Bruins spring back into top form with early lead despite
later rough play from Trojans

By Mark Shapiro

Daily Bruin Staff

It was an evening of redemption for the UCLA men’s basketball
team, as problems that had been haunting it all season were
exorcised during a 101-84 victory over USC before 12,327 fans at
Pauley Pavilion.

You want intensity over a full 40 minutes? How about a 20-point
lead after 10 minutes, and a winning margin of 17, even after head
coach Steve Lavin emptied the bench with four minutes
remaining.

The three-point shooting has been lacking, you say? The
10th-ranked Bruins (14-3, 5-2) went 9-16 against the Trojans, and
shot an astonishing 65 percent from the field on the night.

The team needs better ball movement? UCLA totaled a season-high
25 assists, with senior Toby Bailey and freshman Baron Davis
racking up six apiece.

"It’s a simple game; when we pass the ball, we’re a good team,
when we don’t pass the ball, we’re not a very good team," UCLA head
coach Steve Lavin said. "We had great patience tonight, our players
made those one or two extra passes to get that great shot instead
of settling for a mediocre shot."

The "great shots" that the Bruins were taking all night
jumpstarted them to a quick 20-point lead in the first half, which
would hold up for the duration of the game. They also allowed
Bailey, who was coming off a 7-24 shooting performance against
Stanford, to regain his old form.

Bailey hit two three-pointers and missed only two shots on his
way to 16 points. As an exclamation, he added an impossible over
the shoulder layup off a lob from Davis that brought the crowd to
its feet.

"I guess I can thank Baron for throwing it a little too low so I
couldn’t dunk it." Bailey said. "I had to just throw it up while I
was in the air. When I’m in the flow, that’s when shots like that
go in.

"This was my most comfortable game, everything was coming in the
flow. I decided after the Stanford game that every time I step on
the floor I’m just going to try and have fun."

As the Bruins’ new-found ball movement kept USC at bay, the
Trojans were reduced to making their presence felt with some late
flagrant fouls.

Senior Kris Johnson was sent to the bench with a split lip after
a hard elbow, and Jelani McCoy and USC’s Greg Lakey each received
technicals for pushing.

"They always come in here thinking we’re soft," Johnson said.
"They get frustrated and want to bait us. Stuff like that really
doesn’t make sense. I guess that’s how they play, I guess that’s
how they’re taught to play.

"You can tell by the way they play us, they don’t have respect
for us. Every time we play it’s usually a ‘w’, so they’re going to
have to respect us one day."

The double-digit lead also afforded Lavin the opportunity to
ditch his six-man rotation and give quality minutes to his bench,
something that has not happened since the early part of the
season.

Freshmen Billy Knight and Travis Reed combined for fourteen
points and four rebounds after playing eight minutes apiece.

"It was nice to have a luxury of being up twenty early," Lavin
said. "We could put in some of our players and get them valuable
experience."