Bruins turn Orangemen blue with 60-point half

Monday, February 22, 1999

Bruins turn Orangemen blue with 60-point half

MHOOPS: UCLA nails shots, Davis scores career-high 27 points in
win over Syracuse

By Brent Boyd

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

There’s no truth to the rumor that UCLA shot attempts Sunday
were accompanied by "hoop-seeking" radar, but don’t tell that to
Syracuse.

Whether it be Baron Davis’ three-pointer from well beyond NBA
range, Earl Watson’s over-the-head, two-handed granny shot in the
key, or Todd Ramasar’s one-handed buzzer-beating jump-shot from
just inside the three-point line, it seemed as if the Bruins
couldn’t miss a shot no matter how impossible it was or how well
Syracuse played defense.

In the end, 16th-ranked UCLA took advantage of its sizzling
shooting, stifling press defense, and another outstanding
performance from Davis to dominate No. 21 Syracuse, 93-69, in front
of nearly 11,721 at Pauley Pavilion and a national television
audience.

In the end, this non-conference battle with a Big East foe
allowed UCLA to show the nation that the Pac-10 conference is a
force to be reckoned with.

"We wanted to prove that the Pac-10 is a good conference,"
freshman forward Matt Barnes said. "We knew it could help our RPI
ranking. We knew we had to come out and make a statement."

And it was a loud statement.

The Bruins’ 58 percent field-goal percentage was the highest of
any Syracuse opponent this year, and their 93 points were 30 more
than the Orangemen’s defensive average and 13 more than any
opponent had scored all season. Nobody had scored more than 43
points in any one half against Syracuse (18-9) until UCLA (19-7)
blitzed them for 60 in the second half.

"We played with a high level of intensity today for a sustained
period of time," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "I think today
was the result of a maximum effort from everybody, I know we played
hungry."

And they played well all-around. Led by nine rebounds apiece
from freshmen JaRon Rush and Dan Gadzuric and six more from Barnes,
UCLA dominated the boards, out-rebounding Syracuse, 39-30.

"We just didn’t get it done inside on the boards," Syracuse head
coach Jim Boeheim said. "We didn’t think that UCLA would do that
much damage on the boards."

Or on defense for that matter. In addition, UCLA’s press caused
the Orangemen confusion throughout the contest, forcing 21
turnovers.

"Our press was a little different, it wasn’t really attack,
attack, attack, we were just letting them come to us," Davis said.
"I think the press kind of ran over them."

But it wasn’t only the UCLA press that ran over Syracuse – so
did Davis. He connected on 10 of 15 shot attempts – including three
three-pointers to lead all scorers and tie a career high with 27
points. He also added four assists and three steals.

Rush added a career-high 23 for the Bruins, while Gadzuric and
sophomore guard Earl Watson also scored in double figures.

The Bruins trailed 26-23 with just over two minutes remaining in
the first half, but outscored Syracuse 20-8 over the next five
minutes to take control of the game, 43-34.

After Jason Hart (who had 15 points and six assists) hit a
three-pointer to cut the Bruin lead to six, Davis answered right
back with a trey of his own to spark a 10-point Bruin run over the
next 90 seconds to put UCLA up 53-37 with 14 minutes left.

Syracuse cut the lead to 61-52 with nine minutes remaining, but
would never seriously threaten the rest of the game. The Bruins
finished off the contest on a 25-12 run over the final six
minutes.

The victory was punctuated with the return of sophomore guard
Rico Hines. Suffering from a fractured toe, he made his first
appearance since early January. He played the final 41 seconds and
scored on a layup.JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

JaRon Rush goes up for the shot in Sunday’s game against
Syracuse. Rush had the second highest scoring total with 23 points
and tied for lead in rebounds.

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