Monday, January 6, 1997
M. HOOPS:
Huskies’ defensive plan backfires; UCLA wins
thanks to three-pointers, 79-70By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
University of Washington head coach Bob Bender’s strategy of
switching to a zone defense to force UCLA to shoot outside worked
like a charm. Unfortunately for Bender, it worked in favor of the
Bruins as UCLA prevailed, 79-70, on Saturday.
Cameron Dollar is a player not really known for his outside
shooting capabilities, but he picked an opportune time to display
his jumper. Dollar, whose half-court heroics last year lifted the
Bruins to a win over the Huskies in overtime, again inspired a UCLA
team (7-3 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10) in Saturday’s close contest at
Pauley Pavilion.
"We talked about maybe putting Brandon Loyd in there (when
Washington switched to zone), but, Cameron Dollar, he’s an
unbelievable competitor," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "He may
not be pretty, he may not jump over the backboard, he may not be as
strong or as physically gifted as some point guards, but he’s a
winner. He just comes up with big plays and finds ways."
With 9:46 remaining, Dollar (who finished with a career-high 16
points) sparked a 9-1 run with a pull-up jumper followed by a drive
to the basket that resulted in a three-point play. But the Huskies
(7-3, 0-2) could not be quieted as they closed the deficit to
63-61. Dollar responded by making two straight three-pointers with
under four minutes to go in the game while Toby Bailey added
another three to give UCLA its biggest lead of 11 points at
2:51.
"As I get older I realize that to get (my teammates) more shots
then I have to shoot more," Dollar said. "In order to open those
(passing lanes) back up I have to take some of those shots, and
that was kind of the method behind the madness."
The Bruins also gave Washington a shot in the arm with its
defense. In the 9-0 run made up of the three three-pointers,
Washington didn’t even take a shot. They lost the ball on each
possession on turnovers, including a Washington offensive charge
drawn by Bailey.
"I saw (Jamie Booker) coming, but I don’t think he saw me,"
Bailey said. "I knew that he was going to go up and I knew that a
charge would change the momentum of the game. I was real psyched.
You see, a lot of people take charges on me, so I’d like to take
one from somebody else."
Said Lavin: "Bailey taking a big charge I thought was the
turning point of the game on the defensive end, and Dollar’s big
threes and Kris Johnson knocking down the free throws at the end of
the game were all big turning points."
Another big turning point was when both centers for the Huskies
got into foul trouble with over 12 minutes to go, forcing
Washington to go to the zone to protect the inside from junior J.R.
Henderson who scored a team-high 18 points.
"We were in some foul trouble that necessitated us to get the
ball out of Henderson’s hands who was really hurting us," Bender
said. "That was the adjustment that we made, we played the
percentages but they came back and made the big shots."
Until the foul trouble came about, 7-foot starter Todd
MacCulloch and backup Patrick Femerling successfully disrupted the
Bruins’ inside game. Sophomore Jelani McCoy, who is used to
dominating his opponents in the paint was limited to only two
rebounds, and showed his frustration when he drew a technical after
being called for traveling late in the first half. In addition, two
alley-oop attempts from Dollar to Charles O’Bannon were batted away
by the 7-1 Femerling.
Washington’s leading scorer, junior forward Mark Sanford,
tallied up a game-high 26 points, but was rendered ineffective in
the second half.
"In the second half we did a better job of forcing people more
outside, (so) they had to rely on the jumpers," Lavin said. "We had
three guys around Sanford and didn’t let them get the ball to him.
We adjusted in our zone and forced someone else to beat us."
Opening up conference play with a sweep of the Washington
schools was a much-needed boost for a team whose preseason
performance casted doubts on its overall ability.
"This team has a lot of confidence now in what Lavin is teaching
us," Bailey said. "As long as we keep playing like this I think
that we will be successful."
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
Kris Johnson (No. 54) goes up for shot against Washington
Huskies on Saturday.