Friday, January 17, 1997
M. HOOPS:
Wildcats plan to break down Bruin zone with inside shootersBy
Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
Without the services of Ben Davis, Joseph Blair and Reggie
Geary, 1996-97 was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Arizona.
But as the Wildcats march into Pauley Pavilion on Saturday at 2
p.m., it’s safe to say that 13 games into the season, the
seventh-ranked Wildcats have already rebuilt their tower of success
in a huge way.
On Thursday night, however, the Wildcats suffered a
disheartening 75-62 defeat against USC at the Sports Arena, making
the Bruins prepare for a more determined opponent on Saturday.
"We’re continuing to see how tough it is in the Pac-10
conference on the road, with Arizona losing against USC," UCLA head
coach Steve Lavin said after the win against Arizona State.
Despite the 11 game absence of Miles Simon, who is now back on
the team, freshman point Mike Bibby and current Pac-10 scoring
leader Michael Dickerson has led Arizona (10-3 overall, 3-1 in the
Pac-10) to victories over Utah, North Carolina, Texas, Stanford and
California with deadly outside shooting.
"Arizona is similar to Stanford; they have a lot of three-point
shooting threats," Lavin said. "I think Arizona, because it has a
lot of offensive weapons from the perimeter, is going to possibly
test our zone.
"(But), if we’re going to give something up, we want to give up
a three-point shot, not give up the layup or a dunk."
Arizona head coach Lute Olson, who has been concerned about the
play of his inside players like A.J. Bramlett from the start of the
season, has been going to a smaller lineup with four perimeter
players and 6-foot-8-inch Bennett Davison on the court at the same
time.
"If we go to (that lineup), we become a perimeter-oriented,
three point-shooting, penetrate-and-dish type of an offensive
team," Olson said. "If they zone us, we have four perimeter
shooters, which will create some problems for people. That’s
usually the danger of the zone."
Despite the fact that Davison will be giving away size to UCLA’s
big men when he’s on the court, he has the confidence of his coach
who thinks Davison’s quickness can prevail.
"The toughest guy for the big guy to play is a quick guy, not
another big guy," Olson said. "So we’ll be toying with (playing
Davison as the center) as well."