PULLMAN, Wash. “”mdash; The road to UCLA basketball normalcy must
go through places like Washington State’s Friel Court.
It’s the kind of place where banners celebrating NIT
appearances hang, where 1,658 fans sit mostly idle for 40 minutes
of hoops, save the occasional free T-shirt giveaway during TV
time-outs.
“It’s tough when you look up and see nobody in the
stands,” sophomore Cedric Bozeman said.
And it was the perfect setting for a Bruin team eager to get
back to simply taking care of business. UCLA (4-5, 2-0 Pac-10) did
just that Saturday in what seemed like The House That Mimes Built,
with a 98-83 victory over the Cougars.
“This win shows the maturity of this team,” junior
T.J. Cummings said. “We took care of business. Even in this
game, we had things that we didn’t do right, but we kept our
intensity up throughout.”
Senior Jason Kapono hit on nine of ten three-point attempts to
break a single-game UCLA record and catapulted himself into fifth
on the single-game Bruin scoring list with 44 points. It was
Kapono’s white-hot shooting, coupled with assorted clutch
performances from his teammates, that made the difference.
UCLA shot 63.5 percent from the field (a season high) and 87.5
percent from the free-throw line. Five Bruins finished in double
figures, including sophomore Ryan Walcott, who nailed a pair of
three pointers at crucial junctions.
When the Cougars (5-6, 0-2) trimmed an 18-point UCLA edge down
to eight, Walcott made the first shot, a swish from the side. And
when the game seemed to be getting out of control minutes later,
Walcott hit another.
Walcott also keyed UCLA’s taming of Washington
State’s press two days after the Bruins committed 29
turnovers against a ferocious Washington press.
“We were more aware on our press breaks this time,”
Walcott said. “Whatever they showed, we didn’t
panic.”
Cummings made a number of back-breaking shots from the outside
and missed on just three of 11 shot attempts, finishing with 16
points. Andre Patterson added 10 points and five rebounds in just
18 minutes of action.
The Bruins did it all in an arena where close games have been
the norm over the past few years. Despite a 20-game winning streak
against Wazzu, the Bruins had victories of six or less in three of
the past five trips to Pullman. Part of the problem, most of them
said, has always been that the atmosphere is hardly conducive to
energized, spirited basketball.
“Back in high school, there was a riot and we played in
the game after the riot,” junior Jon Crispin said. “No
fans showed up. That’s what this reminded me of.
“I’d much rather go into a place with 24,000
Kentucky fans or 10,000 people screaming at Duke.”
But with Kapono’s jumper taking on the red color of Friel
Court’s empty seats, it didn’t matter. The senior, who
three times has passed over a chance at the NBA draft in order to
taste greatness in Westwood, seemed unusually determined to score
and get UCLA out of its early-season rut.
“I’ve been here for three years and I know how the
public gets when we start slowly,” Kapono said. “But
when times are slow, we all keep fighting.”
“He’s a pro,” Washington State head coach Paul
Graham said. “He could have been a pro this year or
last.”
WSU’s 6-foot-8 senior center Milton Riley did not play
because of a fractured back he suffered against USC Thursday night,
but the Bruins held only a 38-34 rebounding edge.
The Cougars missed Riley’s 57.1 percent from the field,
however. They finished an abysmal 37.5 percent for the game.
The win guarantees the Bruins at least a tie for first place in
the Pac-10 after the conference’s opening weekend. Their 2-5
non-conference start means they’ll have to win every game
they are supposed to win ““ like Saturday’s against
Washington State.
“We’ve been 4-4 before and finished second in the
conference,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said.
“We’re only one game behind that right now.”
When told that he’d soon be leaving the incessant rain and
chilly environs of Eastern Washington for 87-degree weather and a
2-0 Pac-10 mark in Los Angeles, Cummings warmed up.
“It feels like 87 degrees out here for us right
now,” Cummings said.