Bruins put shade over Sun Devils’ game
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 19, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Earl Watson goes
up for a shot against a Sun Devil in the Bruins’ win at Pauley
Pavilion on Saturday. UCLA 73 ASU 68
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
They knew a letdown was coming.
UCLA junior center Dan Gadzuric ““ the hero of
Thursday’s 79-77 overtime thriller over No. 8 Arizona ““
felt the effects of his left ankle sprain on Saturday in
UCLA’s win over Arizona State. Gadzuric finished with zero
points and two rebounds in 13 minutes. Frontcourt teammates Matt
Barnes and Jason Kapono combined for 13 points and seven rebounds
before both fouled out in the same game.
“Dan played on adrenaline Thursday night,” UCLA Head
Coach Steve Lavin said. “When he came out for the
shoot-around, he said he felt stiff. It’s going to be a
gradual process (to heal).
With the emotional and physical drain taking its toll on the
Bruins after their monumental victory less than 48 hours before,
No. 15 UCLA (17-6, 10-2 Pac-10) looked to its starting backcourt of
senior guard Earl Watson and junior guard Billy Knight to pull out
a 73-68 win over Arizona State (11-13, 3-10) before 7,953 at Pauley
Pavilion.
“We just weren’t up for the game today,”
Kapono said. “There are days when you’re hitting and
sometimes you don’t. We’ll take what we can
get.”
Knight dropped a career and team-high 23 points on 8-of-10
shooting from the field, while Watson had 15 points, eight steals
and four assists after suffering a cut above his forehead midway
through the first half. He got two minor stitches before returning
to play a team-high 34 minutes.
“Watson took over for them when the game was on the line
and they needed him,” ASU Head Coach Rob Evans said.
“They’re at home. They’re fighting for a
championship. You expect them to make the runs they made in the
second half.”
The Sun Devils jumped out 10-0 in the game’s first four
minutes. Much of the early story for Arizona State came from junior
forward Awvee Storey’s seven points.
After the television timeout, Watson penetrated and attempted an
up-and-under layup before being fouled by ASU’s Tommy Smith.
With a small laceration on top of his head, Watson walked off the
floor to seek medical attention after sinking his free throws. UCLA
trailed 12-6.
“I felt drained and weak,” Watson said. “I
didn’t think I was as effective and explosive as usual. But
we got the job done.”
With a 21-9 Sun Devil lead eight minutes into the game, UCLA
began to exploit the matchup they owned in Knight.
The Bruins put together a 16-2 run in the next five minutes to
take their first lead at 25-23, starting with a Knight
three-pointer from the right corner.
“We needed a spark and Billy was hitting his shots,”
Watson said. “Everybody on this team knows that Billy is a
good player and he was big for us when we needed him.”
“It was really exciting to have the ball come to
me,” Knight said. “I want to keep improving and help
the team. I really didn’t realize people were getting tired.
I feel like I am in top shape and that I could play the whole
game.”
The Bruins did not relinquish the lead again, capping the first
half with junior Ray Young’s three-pointer with 3.2 seconds
left to lead 36-29 going into the locker room.
After the intermission, Watson helped guide his team to its
largest lead of the game with back-to-back field goals one minute
into the second half to push UCLA up 40-29.
The Sun Devils clawed back into the game in the next five
minutes behind Storey’s brilliant play. A 14-4 stretch helped
them get as close as 44-43 with 13:49 to go in the game.
The visitors’ scrappy play continued to plague the Bruins,
who found themselves ahead by only two points with less than two
minutes left in the game.
“They are a quick team that fights and plays with
tenacity,” Lavin said. “We knew coming in that they
lead the conference in rebounding and they crashed the boards
today. We didn’t do a good job of boxing out and they were
able to get extra looks at the basket.”
But Knight’s baseline floater with 1:26 left sealed the
victory for UCLA. Now the team has the same number of conference
victories it got during last year’s Sweet Sixteen run.
UCLA looks to erase Saturday’s performance with a trip to
the Oregon Trail this week. The Bruins are alone in second place in
the Pac-10 standings, so every game from here on out is
important.
“We weren’t impressive today,” Lavin said.
“We have to rest up and get on the mend in a hurry with the
Oregon schools next week.”
