Friday, January 24, 1997
M. HOOPS:
UCLA shoots 56 percent, dominates inside game; Henderson scores
24By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
Taking on USC in a crucial conference matchup Thursday night,
UCLA head coach Steve Lavin benched his starting power forward J.R.
Henderson for the third time this season. And, like the previous
two occasions, Lavin’s decision did not hinder his team’s chances,
as the Bruins solidified their Pacific 10 lead with a 96-87 win
over the Trojans in front of 12,843 at the Sports Arena.
After Henderson brushed off his coach’s instructions during
practice Wednesday afternoon, Lavin called on senior Bob Myers to
start at power forward. That decision, however, didn’t keep
Henderson from being the most important factor in the Bruins’ (11-4
overall, 6-1 in Pacific 10) triumph.
Against a contingent of Trojan big men, Henderson had his way
inside the paint. He tallied 24 points (9 of 10 shooting from the
field) and 11 rebounds in just 24 minutes of action.
Lavin dismissed the idea that his disciplinary action gave
Henderson an extra dosage of motivation on the court.
"USC is a special game anyway," Lavin said. "He and I had a good
talk today. We talked for about an hour in my office. I told him
what I thought and hugged him at the end."
When the Trojans (9-6, 4-3) opened up a 15-5 lead early in the
game, it appeared as though Lavin’s benching of Henderson would
ultimately favor the Bruins’ opposition for the first time this
season.
When Henderson was inserted at the 14-minute mark, UCLA gained
stability inside. With the help of Henderson’s seven points off the
bench, the Bruins held a 38-32 halftime advantage.
"I really couldn’t come out and whine on the court," Henderson
said about his benching. "That’s not how to handle stuff like that.
I tried to handle it like an adult, like a man."
Instead, Henderson appeared to be in a class by himself on the
court.
"He really brought it tonight," forward Kris Johnson said. "He
was man amongst boys out there. No matter what happens, if you’re
down or sitting on the bench, you just have to respond the right
way like (Coach Lavin) always says. J.R. definitely came up big for
us tonight."
With roughly eight minutes remaining, Henderson hit two free
throws to extend the Bruin lead to 16 points. However, with Charles
O’Bannon, Cameron Dollar and Toby Bailey all picking up their
fourth personal fouls, the Trojans went on a furious 11-0 run in
the next two minutes to cut the lead to five.
"We got into a little foul trouble and it’s pretty hard to play
defense when you don’t want to foul out," O’Bannon said. "After the
buzzer sounded, we could rest easy."
One area the Bruins excelled in all night long was field-goal
shooting. The second-ranked team nationally in field-goal
percentage shot 56 percent in the first half, and followed it up
with an incredible 79.2 percent in the final 20 minutes. The
Trojans were held to 41percent shooting.
"We scored enough points to win, but you’ve got to play
defense," USC head coach Henry Bibby said. "They outplayed us,
stayed with their game plan and we didn’t."
AARON TOUT
J.R. Henderson (l.) and Charles O’Bannon reach for a rebound.
Henderson grabbed 11 boards.