Friday, November 15, 1996
BASKETBALL:
71-44 exhibition win readies UCLA for preseasonBy Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
An old adage says you should never practice bad habits.
In the Bruins’ 71-44 win on Thursday against the German
22-and-under National Team, interim head coach Steve Lavin called a
timeout 24 seconds into the game, disappointed with his team’s
lackadaisical start.
"I was just unhappy with them running the floor in transition,"
Lavin said. "Playing hard and competing  those are the things
that I told them has to be a constant on this team. I just wanted
to address that (during the timeout) because if you don’t, it can
become a bad habit."
Playing in front of a crowd of 5,485 at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA
got a sneak preview of a tactic that it might see from its
opponents during the regular season.
Unlike the fast-breaking style that the Athletes in Action used
on Tuesday, the Germans played a ball control game that tried to
neutralize the Bruins’ athleticism.
"Similar to a Princeton or a Stanford, it was a little bit of a
deliberate style," Lavin said. "It was good for our guys on
back-to-back (games) … to play against different styles, because
we’re going to see … teams that zone and teams that’ll try to
slow the tempo and keep us out of the up-tempo, fast breaking
game."
The Bruins, 2-0 in preseason, were propelled by Charles
O’Bannon’s 14 points and seven rebounds and Kris Johnson’s 12
points and four rebounds. Cameron Dollar, who did not score, added
eight assists and six steals.
Playing 22 minutes at the four and five positions, Bob Meyers
led all scorers with 16 points. The senior forward made all eight
of his shots and encouraged Lavin, who watched Meyers mature from a
seldom-used walk-on to a critical player in the paint.
"You could see (Meyers’ development) coming, but I think he
probably exceeded even our expectations for him," Lavin said. "We
saw glimpses of somebody … who had a chance to be an
all-conference player by his junior or senior year."
Center Jelani McCoy, who sat out most of the intrasquad game
last week because of leg cramps, was slowed by the same problem on
Thursday night. After throwing down his only successful slam dunk
of the night with 8:44 left in the second half, the sophomore
center went to the bench.
"The trainer says he needs to drink more liquids," Lavin said.
"I think because of injuries last year, he’s still catching up as
far as conditioning goes."
Thursday’s game marked the end of the exhibition schedule for
UCLA. The Bruins now have five days to prepare for the first round
of the preseason National Invitational Tournament against the
University of Tulsa on Wednesday.
WYNN RUJIRAVIRIYAPINYO
UCLA’s Bob Meyers (No. 24) scores a basket against the German
National Team on Thursday. Meyers led the Bruins in scoring.