UCLA frustrated by fouls, free throws

alt="For UCLA students, employees and Alumni Association
members.">

Tuesday, January 19, 1999

UCLA frustrated by fouls, free throws

MHOOPS: Players

hit bench as trash litters court in loss to Cardinal

By Brent Boyd

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

They say everybody loves a parade.

But the last thing the sellout crowd at Pauley Pavilion wanted
to see was the parade of Bruins that referees sent marching on a
direct route from the court to the sidelines Saturday.

That’s exactly what they witnessed in UCLA’s 72-59 loss to
Stanford – a loss that dropped the Bruins (12-4, 4-2 Pac-10) two
games behind the Cardinal and doused any realistic hopes of a
Pac-10 title.

Center Dan Gadzuric – who took his team-high 15 points and his
imposing six-foot, 10-inch presence with him to the bench – led the
way with seven minutes remaining.

Forwards Matt Barnes and JaRon Rush were next on tow, while
Jerome Moiso and Baron Davis brought up the rear.

All told, the Bruins finished with 35 personal fouls and a
quintet of fouled-out players.

Earl Watson was the only starter that remained until the end,
and the Bruins’ two tallest players – Gadzuric and Moiso – both
played under 20 minutes.

Stanford (15-2, 5-0) made 32 of 49 free throw attempts, while
UCLA missed nine of its 15.

These are all obstacles that are difficult – if not impossible –
to overcome when the opponent is the fourth-ranked team in the
nation and riding a 10-game winning streak.

"We didn’t execute and we had no confidence," said Davis, who
had 12 points and five rebounds. "We’ll be better next time, but
tonight they kicked our butts."

In the end, the Bruins lost at home for the first time this
season, allowing Stanford to extend its winning streak to 11
games.

They didn’t do it without a fight, however.

UCLA forced the Cardinal to turn the ball over 25 times – six
more than Stanford committed in any other game this season.

"UCLA was extremely aggressive on defense. They caused some
turnovers," Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery said. "It doesn’t
get any tougher than this game – this was a grinder."

Though Moiso and Gadzuric played only five and six minutes,
respectively, in the first half, UCLA trailed only 33-27 at
halftime.

And when Ryan Bailey hit a three-pointer five minutes into the
second half to give UCLA a 38-37 lead – its first lead since 2-0 –
it looked like a Bruin upset was a distinct possibility.

UCLA eventually led 47-42 with 12 minutes remaining – its
biggest lead of the night – but it was all Stanford after that.

It was at this time that UCLA started playing Russian roulette
with fouls and Stanford started playing a zone defense that
perplexed the Bruin offense.

UCLA shot itself in the foot on both counts.

The fouls took away any hope of UCLA offsetting Stanford’s
distinct height advantage, and the zone defense took away the
Bruins’ inside game, forcing them to take long-range shots – rarely
a winning proposition in Westwood.

UCLA missed 13 of its 14 three-point attempts – and were never
able to stem Stanford’s final blitzkrieg.

"They made us take some shots we didn’t want to take," Davis
said. "They whooped us."

The Bruins were outscored 31-12 over the final 12 minutes.

"UCLA was extremely hard on defense, but the zone saved our
bacon," Montgomery said. "We had seen tape of them struggling in
zone in other games, and it ended up working well for us."

The game turned ugly at the end. With seven-tenths of a second
remaining, and the game firmly in Stanford’s grasp, Davis was
called for a foul.

This prompted some students among the 12,922 people in
attendance to litter the court with cups of coffee, keychains and
pom-poms. One object actually hit Davis on the lip – though he
wasn’t injured.

Consequently, the game was ended early by the referees.

Although the student reaction was an obvious protest of their
assumed bias of the referees, UCLA head coach Steve Lavin refused
to blame the loss on the men in stripes.

"We stress that you can’t allow officials’ calls to dictate the
way you play," he said.

In a direct attempt to circumvent a question on the quality of
refereeing, Lavin continued.

"Let’s just say it was one of the most unusual games I’ve seen
in 11 years at the Division I level," he said.

And most likely, one of the longest parades he’s seen as
well.

* * *

Guard Earl Watson is expected to miss 1-2 weeks due to an injury
he suffered at the end of the second half.

He tore the webbing between the third and fourth fingers and
received stitches during the game.

MICHAEL ROSS WACHT/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Dan Gadzuric, left, and Baron Davis react to one of 35 fouls
called against the Bruins during Saturday’s game against
Stanford.