If you were at the basketball game Saturday night, give yourself
a pat on the back.
Seriously.
It doesn’t matter if people look at you funny, because you
know in your heart that you deserve a lot of credit.
Not as much as Dijon Thompson or Brian Morrison or Jordan Farmar
or Lorenzo Mata, but a whole lot of credit nonetheless. The
atmosphere at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night was unbelievable,
and as the last couple of seconds ticked off the clock in
UCLA’s 95-86 win over No. 12 Washington, I remembered what
Bruin basketball is supposed to be like.
It’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be
refusing to lose, fighting until the bitter end, defending your
home court in front of your home fans. It’s supposed to be,
well, exactly like that.
When the Bruins were down 30-9 in the first half, no one gave
up. No one on the court gave up, and no one in the crowd gave up,
either. And that’s just great to see. After enduring two full
seasons of relative indifference from UCLA players and fans, the
last two games have been phenomenal. A little bit of the swagger is
back, and Pauley Pavilion is once again becoming a difficult place
for an opponent to win a game.
“What a great home environment,” coach Ben Howland
said. “The home-court advantage has been huge for us. If we
play these two games on a neutral court, we’re probably
0-for-2 on them.”
Read that last quote one more time and smile. You made a
difference when the Bruins fought back from a 16-point deficit
against Washington State, and you made a difference Saturday
night.
“The crowd definitely helps us come back,” said
Brian Morrison, who didn’t miss a shot in the second half.
“When the crowd gets revved up, the other team starts
thinking about it a little. They get you moving a little bit
faster. It definitely means a lot.”
You could tell that Washington was thinking about it a little
more. The Huskies appeared more tentative on offense. They were
missing free throws and committing silly turnovers. And UCLA,
meanwhile, was fighting for loose balls, blocking shots, and
getting huge offensive rebounds.
Speaking of huge offensive rebounds, Lorenzo Mata is my favorite
player. I think you should consider making him your favorite
player, too.
Anyway, I decided not to sit at the press table Saturday night,
and that’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in a
while. Surrounded by fellow students, all I saw was unwavering
optimism and all I heard were thundering feet and screaming voices.
My roommate prophetically announced that if the Bruins could cut
the deficit to 10 by halftime, they would have a good chance to win
the game. That seemed like a ridiculous thing to say when
Washington looked so much better in every facet of the game.
Well, it was 52-42 at the break, and kudos to the roomie.
Kudos to everyone that was at the game. The Gary Coleman chants.
The overrated chants. The standing ovation for coach Wooden. That
was a great performance by Bruin fans, and I’m proud that I
was a part of it.
“The crowd helped a lot,” said Thompson, who had the
kind of game that NBA scouts will surely notice.
“They’re fighting with us every minute of the
game.”
They’re fighting to make Pauley Pavilion the kind of place
that no opponent wants to come to. Gone are the days with home
losses to San Diego (which was bad), UC Santa Barbara (which was
worse), and Washington State last year (which made me want to shoot
myself). Howland has this program on its way back, and if students
can keep up the intensity they demonstrated Saturday, it
won’t be long.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere,” said Justin
Barton, a second-year business economics student. “People
were still doing 8-claps walking up Bruin Walk. I’ve never
seen students at this school so energized.”
Isn’t that cool? Isn’t it fun to call your USC
friends and ask how the Trojans did against Washington State?
Isn’t it great that it’s basketball season? Yes, yes,
and yes.
Husky players appeared to be doing a lot of talking when they
were up big in the first half, and they were still talking late in
the game. But no one really knows what they were saying.
“We couldn’t hear them because of the crowd,”
Farmar said.
Kudos.
Regan is a basketball columnist for the 2004-05 season.
E-mail him at dregan@media.ucla.edu.