Stanford’s point guard Brevin Knight is nail in coffin for Bruin
men’s basketball
By Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
STANFORD — While the Stanford student section was storming its
way onto the floor Saturday afternoon to celebrate a 67-66 Cardinal
victory, the UCLA men’s basketball team was still staring at the
scoreboard trying to figure out how it had let this one get
away.
After all, the Bruins shot 50 percent from the field, committed
just 13 turnovers and recorded a 93.8 percent clip from the free
throw line.
Down by 10 with 12:32 remaining, UCLA (16-6 overall, 9-2 Pacific
10) set off on a 13-4 run to put itself back into the game –
despite several controversial calls that stripped the Bruins of
three points down the stretch. And after J.R. Henderson scored his
19th point of the afternoon on a free throw to bring the Bruins
within one at the 45-second mark, UCLA appeared to have the upper
hand.
But there was one thing the Bruins didn’t have on their side,
and it virtually cost them the game. Point guard Brevin Knight.
The 5-foot-10-inch Knight has been helping the Cardinal (15-5,
8-3) win games all season long, and Saturday in Maples Pavilion was
no exception. Though he hit just nine of 19 shots from the field,
his team-high 19 points and nine assists were the spark behind
nearly every big Cardinal play.
So when it counted most, in the waning seconds of the game with
his team up by one, Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery knew
exactly where he wanted the ball to go.
"Brevin hit some huge shots when we needed them. He made all the
big plays when we needed them," Montgomery said. "Against pressure
at the end of the game I said, ‘Get it in (Dion) Cross’ or Brevin’s
hands,’ because if (UCLA is) going to foul, that’s money in the
bank, cattle on the ranch."
Looking to cash in on an opportunity to win the game, UCLA was
hoping for exactly the opposite. Knowing Knight is money from the
charity stripe, the last thing the Bruins wanted to do was give the
junior point guard a chance to put the game out of reach.
"We were trying to avoid fouling Knight and Cross," UCLA forward
Charles O’Bannon said, "and before you know it, they whip the ball
around and they just expired the clock."
As it turned out, the Cardinal was able to get the ball into
Knight’s hands.
But despite a hard slap from Henderson that could be heard
across The Farm, no foul was called and the Bruins could do nothing
but watch time run out.
"I don’t think (J.R.) could’ve slapped me any harder for it to
be a foul," Knight said. "But I guess it was a little bit too loud
for the people on the court to hear."
As the Cardinal’s second leading scorer (averaging 15.5 points
per game), Knight gives Stanford an added dimension that the Bruins
have been missing since Cameron Dollar suffered injuries to both
pinky fingers back in December – a true point guard.
Though Toby Bailey – who has filled in for Dollar at the point –
is leading UCLA in scoring (15.8), he averages just 3.6 assists per
game (second on the Bruin squad) and is clearly more comfortable up
front where he can score off monstrous dunks.
Knight, on the other hand, leads the Pac-10 with an average of
7.6 assists per game and is the epitome of a leader in the
backcourt. And it showed in his performance against UCLA.
"Knight I thought was especially good today," Bruin head coach
Jim Harrick said. "You’ve got to give Stanford credit. They really
played a strong game."
"Brevin hit some huge shots when we needed them. He made all the
big plays when we needed them."
MIke Montgomery
Stanford Basketball Coach
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Cardinal Brevin Knight tallied 19 points in the Bruin loss.
"We were trying to avoid fouling Knight and Cross, and before
you know it, they whip the ball around and they just expired the
clock."
Charles O’Bannon
UCLA Basketball Player
Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu