Bruins bring home demonic victory

  The Associated Press DePaul’s Lance
Williams (left) and Steve Hunter (far
right) fight for the loose ball with UCLA’s TJ
Cummings in the second half of UCLA’s 94-88 win on
Saturday. UCLA 94 DePaul 88

By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff

CHICAGO “”mdash; On Friday, the UCLA men’s basketball team
feasted at freshman forward and Chicago native TJ Cummings’s
house.

On Saturday, the Bruins (15-6) feasted on the DePaul Blue Demons
(11-12), beating them handily despite a sloppy finish in front of
12,236 spectators in Allstate Arena.

The 94-88 win capped a perfect trip home for Cummings, whose
father, former DePaul All-American Terry was honored for his
accomplishments at the university before the game. The 6-foot-8
forward, who started because usual starter Matt Barnes offered to
give him his spot in the lineup, finished with 10 points and two
rebounds.

“TJ had a bounce in his step the whole weekend,”
UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. “Our kids were talking to
him, saying, “˜Jeez it’s cold out here.’ He said
“˜Oh, I love it. The fresh air wakes you up.’ He’s
a big Chicago guy.”

Cummings not only had his father in attendance but some 30
family members and friends as well. He said his trip back home was
better than he thought it would be.

“I’m loving it,” he said. “I’m
taking it all in. I love Chicago. I can’t wait until the next
time I can come back. It’s a great environment.”

Cummings’s team jumped on the Blue Demons early. A 12-0
run, spearheaded by three Jason Kapono three-pointers, put UCLA up
25-11 with 11 minutes left in the first half.

Behind some red-hot shooting (55 percent in the first half) UCLA
led by as much as 23 points.

As a result of poor ball handling and shoddy defense, UCLA saw
its lead dwindle considerably towards the end of the second half.
Buoyed by some inspired play from point guard Rashon Burno, DePaul
went on a 21-7 run with eight minutes left in the game. They got as
close as five points before some timely UCLA free throws put the
game away.

“If I watched the last six minutes of this game and I was
a voter I’d ship us to the NIT or Siberia because we really
put on a horrific demonstration of basketball those last six
minutes,” Lavin said.

Several players cited UCLA’s poor finish to fatigue from
playing two games in less than 48 hours in different time zones.
After Thursday’s game against USC the team took a red eye
flight to Chicago.

“It was tough,” said Kapono, who tied a career-high
with 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. “The flight and the
time change was really hard for us. I think that played a role in
the last six minutes when their pressure started getting to
us.”

The inability to put in reliable guard Ryan Bailey, who
didn’t make the trip due to a stomach virus, when point guard
Earl Watson fouled out with over two minutes left also had an
impact on UCLA’s ball handling.

Also, it sure didn’t help matters that UCLA center Dan
Gadzuric sprained his left ankle in the midst of DePaul’s
run. He had to be helped off the floor. Lavin said it looked like
Gadzuric had a “softball” above his ankle. His
availability for Thursday’s game against Arizona is in
question.

About the only thing brighter than the smile Cummings carried
the entire weekend were UCLA’s shoes.

The team broke out bright yellow Adidas for Saturday’s
nationally televised game. The shoes not only gathered a lot of
attention on the floor but had Lavin cracking jokes in the
post-game press conference.

“We’re going to put those shoes in the Hall of Fame
with the black uniforms,” he said with a grin.
“We’re going to auction them off and see what kind of
price we can get. We want to get Coach (John) Wooden to sign them
first.”

Lavin said he wasn’t aware the team was going to wear them
until minutes before tip-off.

“I said “˜What’s the deal with the yellow
shoes?'” he said. “It looked part of a rain
outfit. I thought it was part of the winter gear we brought with
us.”

With Saturday’s win UCLA has won three in a row and 11 of
their last 13 games. That humiliating 29-point blowout loss to Cal
seems far away.

The Cal defeat could have sent the team spiraling down the drain
but instead, the Bruins responded by beating No. 1 Stanford, No. 19
USC and now DePaul, all on the road.

The Bruins get little time to celebrate as they face No. 10
Arizona (17-6, 9-2) on Thursday in Pauley Pavilion in a game that
could eventually determine who wins the Pac-10.

The difference this time is the Bruins will get more than two
days to prepare.

“We’ve played two highly emotional games in less
than 48 hours,” Watson said. “Then the Stanford game
took a lot out of us. Now we get to go home and hopefully the
Arizona game will be sold out. That’s what we are looking
forward to.”