PALO ALTO “”mdash; With the home team comfortably ahead late in
the first half, a group of Stanford students found another source
of entertainment, serenading the Bruins with chants of
“Lavin’s better.”
Lavin wasn’t, of course. The ex-UCLA coach lost his
head-coaching debut at Maples Pavilion by 48 points in 1996. But
Ben Howland’s Bruins were still plenty bad as Stanford handed
them a 67-52 loss Thursday night, UCLA’s second-worst loss
ever in Palo Alto.
Leaks that the squad managed to keep patched up against the
Pac-10’s soft underbelly erupted for the second consecutive
game as the Cardinal out-rebounded, outran, and out-muscled the
Bruins in the same convincing fashion as Arizona did this past
Saturday. If these were measuring-stick games, then right now UCLA
(9-5, 5-2 Pac-10) simply doesn’t measure up.
“We had the same problems as we did against
Arizona,” Howland said. “We were beaten in the boards
and in transition. It looked as if we hadn’t even talked
about it in practice.”
Howland had talked about it, all week in fact, but come tip-off
it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. No. 2 Stanford
(15-0, 6-0) grabbed three offensive rebounds on its first
possession of the game, and held a 20-9 advantage on the glass by
halftime.
Cardinal big men Rob Little and Justin Davis repeatedly beat
UCLA’s interior players in transition, so much so that
Howland benched senior T.J. Cummings midway through the second half
in favor of reserve Josiah Johnson.
“I don’t know what we have to say for our big men to
get back,” guard Dijon Thompson said. “When they walk
back, it puts a lot of pressure on our guards. I thought Josiah did
the best job out there.”
Stanford raced out to a 24-point first-half lead thanks to a
33-9 run keyed by the play of Davis. The senior forward tallied 15
of his game-high 21 points before half time, shooting a perfect
7-for-7 from the field while routinely beating the Bruins up and
down the floor and manhandling them on the offensive glass.
“He’s one of the best big men in the
conference,” Howland said. “We knew that coming in.
This is not a new thing for Stanford. They’re physical every
year.”
What has to be disconcerting for Howland is that his team knew
exactly what to expect from Stanford yet appeared powerless to stop
it. All week UCLA emphasized rebounding, transition defense and
defending the post, but by halftime that effort was nullified.
Stanford shot 58.6 percent in the first half as Davis, Little
and forward Josh Childress combined for 31 of the squad’s 42
points.
UCLA cut the lead to 12 in the second half but never really got
within striking distance.
“We have to come out and compete a lot better,” UCLA
point guard Cedric Bozeman said. “We fought so hard.
It’s really difficult to lose a game like this.”
The Bruins had no explanation after the game for why they failed
to execute the game plan. Thompson, who led UCLA with 15 points,
could only shrug his shoulders and speculate as to why they fell
behind so quickly.
“I guess we have to pay more attention to detail,”
he said. “We try to listen to coach as much as possible.
Their pressure forced us to do other things instead of what
we’re supposed to do.”
Cummings was much more concise when asked whether he was happy
with his second-half playing time. The forward, who tallied six
points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes, responded,
“That’s coach’s decision,” before walking
away from reporters.
Howland confirmed Cummings was not injured, but would not
comment further on his decision to remove the senior from the
game.