UCLA played its standard style of ball ““ like it
didn’t care ““ and the resulting loss was no less
surprising.
The Bruins didn’t really put up much of a whimper during a
dreary 75-60 defeat to Notre Dame.
Only after the Saturday spanking did one actually do so.
“It’s shocking to be at UCLA and losing,” said
guard Jon Crispin, who got the start on Senior Day.
“It’s UCLA. How do you lose?”
“I don’t understand that. I don’t understand
how we don’t come out and expect to be up by 30.”
UCLA never led in its finale at Pauley Pavilion, getting down by
20 in the first half and failing to cut the lead to single-digits
in the second half.
Good news came Saturday, in that losses by Washington State and
Oregon State, fighting it out for eighth place in the Pac-10, all
but assure UCLA of a spot to play in the conference tournament.
But the Bruins (11-14) can now count on a second straight losing
season for the first time since 1941-1942 and going without a bid
to play in even the NIT.
UCLA was pounded all the way around against Notre Dame (14-11),
both on the inside and outside.
Fighting Irish center Tom Timmermans scored a career-high 20
points and tied his career high of eight rebounds. The
6-foot-11-inch senior had been averaging just 5.5 points per game
this season.
He dominated UCLA senior T.J. Cummings so much on the low post
that Cummings, a senior, did not start the second half, nor did he
even get taken out of the game to the obligatory standing
ovation.
“We made him look like an all-league player,”
Howland said.
“T.J. was not doing a good job defensively.”
Sophomore centers Ryan Hollins and Michael Fey didn’t do
much to get into Howland’s good graces either, combining for
zero defensive rebounds.
On the perimeter, Notre Dame hit nine 3-pointers in the first
half and shot 12-for-26 overall from beyond the arc.
Guards Chris Thomas and Chris Quinn scored 21 and 20 points,
respectively, for the Fighting Irish, and combined for nine
3-pointers.
“Our defense was really lagging,” Howland said.
“We did a poor job defending the dribble. Every time we got
beat, they were hitting threes.”
Ever so quietly, UCLA had four double-digit scorers on the
afternoon in Hollins (13), Cummings (10), guard Dijon Thompson (10)
and forward Trevor Ariza (10), who had his second career
double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds.
“I thought they would come after us on Senior Day, but
maybe they used all the energy they had (against USC),” Notre
Dame coach Mike Brey said. “A loss like that takes the wind
out of you.”
Said Crispin, “A lot of our problem is that when guys get
down, they stay down. We’re not one of those teams that
battles and battles. We really are sporadic with our intensity
level.
“It has nothing to do with coaching. It’s up to us
to lace up the shoes and get bloody.”
Howland, looking haggard after his last home game in his first
season at UCLA, certainly won’t stop working hard.
“I’m definitely not quitting or giving up on the
season,” Howland said.
Whether his players follow suit remains to be seen.