M. basketball stands tall in Oakland
Bruins overcome slump with 73-65 defeat of Cal Bears
By Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
OAKLAND — At the start of the season, the Stanford men’s
basketball team was expected to challenge for the Pacific 10 title.
And with a 7-3 conference record that places them in a second-place
tie with Arizona, the Cardinal has not surprised anyone.
What is surprising, however, is that Stanford has done it all
without the services of starting center Tim Young, who was supposed
to be a leader for a small Cardinal squad whose tallest starter
stands 6-feet-8-inches. Instead, Young has been indefinitely
relegated to cheerleader due to a bulging disk in his lower
back.
"(Stanford) went six, seven weeks with Tim Young and then, boom,
all of a sudden he’s gone," UCLA head coach Jim Harrick said. "Now
they’ve got to re-tool their team."
That re-tooling has centered on the performances of senior guard
Dion Cross and junior Brevin Knight, who are averaging 15. 8 and
16.0 points per game, respectively. So when the Bruins (16-5, 9-1)
enter Maples Pavilion Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. matchup with
the Cardinal, UCLA will be focused on shutting down the outside
threat.
"(Knight) is really smooth," Harrick said. "When you let him
penetrate and get into the gaps, you might as well phone it in
because he’s really good."
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
J.R. Henderson’s 21 points against Cal Thursday balanced nicely
with Kris Johnson’s 15-point effort.
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