BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff UC Irvine’s
Jerry Green, trapped by Bruins Jason
Kapono and Billy Knight, tries to signal
a time out in the last minute of the game.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Tension filled Pauley Pavilion through the final three minutes
of the game.
With no more than one point separating the Bruins (5-2) from the
UC Irvine Anteaters (5-4), it was anyone’s win to take home. And
the 75-74 dramatic finish for UCLA would have made a good story had
the game been against a team other than the Anteaters – a team that
lost in the first round of the NIT last March, after missing the
tournament the previous 15 years.
"It’s good that we won, but the better team didn’t win today,"
Bruin senior guard Billy Knight said. "We have to take this as
learning experience and try not let this happen again because we
won’t have a lot of other teams like Irvine. We can’t just get up
for ranked teams."
And somehow UCLA found a way to make the final four minutes of
the game count for the whole thing.
It was a familiar scene. The Bruins had their backs against the
wall, and their play was right on. Jason Kapono couldn’t miss,
Knight hit two crucial free throws and Dan Gadzuric added a
commanding dunk, but the string of three big plays only gave the
Bruins a one-point lead with one minute to go.
And then came the real test.
The Bruins, whose defense has been their main concern through
the past few weeks, had to keep the opposition from scoring for the
rest of the game – or at least one possession.
UCI guard Jerry Green brought the ball up court and the Bruins
swarmed, forcing him to call a timeout with 30 seconds on the
clock.
After the timeout, Bruin guard Rico Hines knocked the ball out
of bounds, and with 15 seconds on the clock, it was still Irvine’s
possession. The Anteaters worked the clock down to six seconds, and
then Green went to work.
 BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Enough students
stuck around after finals week to fill up the student cheering
section of Pauley Pavilion Saturday. The whole Bruin bench stood in
anticipation, and with two seconds to go, Green put up the shot. It
was long.
By the time the ball soared past the backboard, time had expired
and the Bruins escaped with the victory.
"We were fortunate to be able to win this basketball game
against Irvine," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "(UCI) was
really tied together and played excellent basketball at both ends
of the floor.
"I guess sometimes its better to be lucky than good."
Irvine out-shot and out-rebounded the Bruins in the second half.
But the most telling statistic was turnovers. For once, the Bruins
weren’t the one who gave the game away by turning the ball over.
Irvine finished with 22 overall, 10 in the second half. UCLA had
just four in the second half.
Going into halftime, the Bruins trailed 29-27. Both teams went
into the locker rooms with shooting percentages in the upper
thirties – hardly a start that most would hope.
With forward Matt Barnes on the bench with a sprained ankle, the
Bruins were without one of their veterans and a defensive spark.
Though quiet through UCLA’s first five games, Barnes had erupted
against No. 16 Alabama on Dec. 8 at the Wooden Classic.
But freshman forward Dijon Thompson did a good job filling
Barnes’ space on the court, playing a strong all-around game and
finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block in
his team-high 38 minutes.
Hines showed why he’s on the court by shutting down Irvine’s
leading scorer, Green, who had lit up the Bruins for 27 points up
to that point.
UCLA notched its fifth win even though its opponent shot 75
percent from the field in the second half, with Green and Stanislav
Zuzak finishing with 27 and 22 points respectively for UCI, with 18
of Zuzak’s coming in the second half.
Kapono came on strong for the Bruins in the second half, scoring
21 points, with 15 coming from the beyond the three-point line. In
assuming much of the point guard duties in recent games, Kapono has
shifted his mindset from scoring to looking to pass or drive, which
helps explain why he only had four points in the first half.
"Sometimes in an effort to show he can do things besides shoot,
(Kapono) forgets that his greatest weapon is his shot," Lavin said.
"He is a prolific scorer. He needs to stay with the mindset that
homerun hitters hit homeruns."
The Bruins tip off Pac-10 play with a road trip to Washington,
facing Washington on Dec. 20 and Washington State on Dec. 22.
UCLA’s next home game is on Dec. 27 against Columbia.