Thursday, February 13, 1997
M. HOOPS:
Arizona home court, first place battle make UCLA win tougherBy
Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
First assignments can’t get any tougher than this.
Steve Lavin’s first game as the permanent head coach of the No.
24 UCLA men’s basketball team will be against No. 11 Arizona
tonight.
But while playing Arizona is hard enough, facing the Wildcats on
the hardwood of McKale Center makes it even more difficult. And
when you consider the fact that Arizona trails UCLA by only
one-half game for first place in the Pacific 10, it makes the word
‘challenging’ an understatement.
"I think that because we are tied (in the loss column with
Arizona) and that it is going to be a game for first place, it’s
going to be very difficult because no team ever wins (at McKale),"
Lavin said. "They’re like 120-6; they never lose there."
Actually, since the 1987-88 season, Arizona holds a 141-9 record
in Tucson. This season, the Wildcats are undefeated in their 10
home contests.
So if UCLA pulls off a victory at McKale, it could be an omen
for success.
Since the 1987-88 season, UCLA has won there only twice. The
first time came in 1992, the year in which the Bruins made it to
the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. The last time UCLA was
victorious in Tucson, in 1995, the Bruins went on to win the
national championship.
"It’s pretty hard (to play there)," J.R. Henderson said. "It’s
hard to make shots in there for some reason. In my freshman year I
only scored two points."
The keys for a road victory for UCLA (13-7 overall, 8-3 Pac-10)
will center around its defense. Arizona (15-5, 7-3) has a quick
team, especially when head coach Lute Olson uses the four-guard
line-up of Miles Simon, Mike Bibby, Jason Lee and Jason Terry.
And thanks to that ability to penetrate inside and to pull up
for quick jump shots, Arizona leads the conference in scoring
offense, averaging 85.6 points per game.
"The first thing we have to do is be able to get back on
transition, (to) match-up defensively and not let the ball get
ahead of us," Lavin said. "The second thing we have to do on the
half court is contain dribble penetration. The third thing is to
finish the defensive possession with a rebound to hold it to one
shot."
Defense helped the Bruins contain Wildcat leading scorer Michael
Dickerson in the victory over Arizona four weeks ago. Dickerson,
who averages over 20 points per game, was held to only 12 thanks in
part to the defense of senior Charles O’Bannon.
However Simon, the current Pac-10 player of the week, lit the
Bruins up for 23 points. Simon has been a huge contributor for
Arizona. In the eight games he has played, the junior guard has
averaged 16.3 points and a team-high 5.2 assists.
"I know that he is playing well right now," Lavin said. "He’s
playing confident and he’s a veteran  he understands the
Pac-10 race."
SUSIE MING HWA CHU/Daily Bruin
Bruin guard Toby Bailey