Battle for the Pac-10
By Bobby Gordon
March 5, 2008 10:40 p.m.
As if the magnitude of tonight’s game against Stanford was not clear enough already, the student tents lined up around Pauley Pavilion early Tuesday drove the point home. While it’s not strange to see students camping out before a game, seeing them there two nights before is a lot less common.
“It tells us it’s going to be a huge game and we’re going to have all our fans there to support us,” senior center Lorenzo Mata-Real said.
The last time Mata-Real remembered seeing the tents so early was for the University of Southern California game earlier in the year.
The stakes for this game are clear, at least if the Bruins win.
If UCLA wins, it clinches the Pac-10 regular season title for the third season in a row. If it loses, it puts both teams at 14-3 with one game remaining. If they finish tied, both teams enter a convoluted tie-breaking system that coach Ben Howland admitted he does not fully comprehend.
“My primary goal is for us to win the Pac-10 and to win it outright,” Howland said. “So that’s what we’re playing for on Thursday.”
A win would put No. 3 UCLA (26-3, 14-2 Pac-10) in good position to earn the Western track through the NCAA Tournament. Standing tall in the way with the 7-foot Lopez twins is No. 7 Stanford (24-4, 13-3 Pac-10).
Brook and Robin Lopez create a lot of problems for teams on both ends of the court, putting up big offensive numbers, pulling down a lot of rebounds and blocking a lot of opponent’s shots.
On the offensive end Brook Lopez has stood out, leading the team with 19.3 points per game in conference play. He is also the only player on the team averaging in double figures, with guard Anthony Goods behind him with 9.9 points per game.
On defense Robin Lopez is second in the conference in blocks, averaging 2.3 per game.
“Once you pump-fake one of them, you go around him, the next one is waiting for you,” center Kevin Love said. “”˜I thought I just got around you’ and there he is. Brook (or) Robin standing there. It’s tough.”
In their previous meeting, Love was able to total 15 points and seven rebounds in an intense battle in the paint.
The Bruins’ lineup changed in that game in response to their opponent’s size on the court, and could see the game shift. Howland played Love and Mata-Real at the same time, it is likely that the same will happen in this meeting.
UCLA’s guard play may also have a different look. Sophomore Russell Westbrook, known for his darts into the lane, may have to find different options when met with the Lopez twins inside the key.
“Just stop and pull up,” Westbrook said. “Shot-fake when you get in there, just pull up or bring it back out. Get in there, slow down and pass it to the bigs.”
In the last game against Stanford, Westbrook had a strong performance, totaling 15 points and a team-high six assists.
The Bruins won that meeting in January 76-67 in Palo Alto, despite being outrebounded 35-31. Since then UCLA has improved against the zone and gotten over its poor early first-half play, and Stanford has seen Brook Lopez dominate and its bench step up as well.
“I think part of it is just having Brook back for a lot longer,” Howland said. “I think when we played them he’d only been in the lineup three or four games. … They’ve developed more depth. (Guard Landry) Fields has had some big games for them off the bench. I don’t think he even played in our game the first time.”
With the only two horses in the Pac-10 title race squaring off to open the last weekend of the season, March has very clearly arrived.
“There’ve been games already that have really signified March ““ the overtime games on Saturday right when March started,” Love said. “Games were getting off to big starts, overtime victories, last second shots, things like that. It really signified that March is here.”
