Thursday, March 5, 1998
Bruins to play devil’s advocate
BASKETBALL: Players hope pressure defense will defeat rising Sun
Devils, prepare them for NCAA tournament
By Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
They were once the roll-overs of the conference – a game against
Arizona State was practically an automatic win, just as long as you
put five players on the floor.
My, how things have changed.
When the No. 19 UCLA men’s basketball team (21-7 overall, 11-5
Pac-10) attempts to claim its 18th straight victory over the Sun
Devils tonight at Pauley Pavilion, it will face a team that knocked
out Pac-10 giant No. 11 Stanford, came within one point of
blemishing No. 2 Arizona’s unbeaten conference record, and gave
national powerhouse No. 3 Kansas an overtime scare.
The Bruins will also be tipping off against a team that wants to
prove it deserves one of the 64 tournament spots.
"You can definitely build a case for Arizona State being a team
that should be in the NCAA Tournament," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin
said. "I think that (ASU head coach) Don Newman has done a
tremendous job considering all the distractions. They are in a
position now where they should be considered for the tournament
which says a lot about a team that was picked to finish ninth (in
the conference)."
The distractions include losing head coach Bill Frieder before
the season started and allegations of point shaving by former
players. However, despite all the turmoil, the Sun Devils have
compiled an 18-11 overall record and are tied for fifth in the
conference with a mark of 8-8. Last year, Arizona State was10-20
overall and 2-16 in the Pac-10.
Helping ASU to its surprising season are senior Jeremy Veal, who
averages 20.7 points, and juniors Bobby Lazor (17.3 points, 7.9
rebounds) and Mike Batiste (15.6 points, 7.9 boards).
But while Arizona State enters the game with tournament
aspirations, the Bruins want to use the last two conference games
to prepare for their run in the March race.
"Both games are big just from the standpoint that at the end of
the season, you want to gain some momentum for the NCAA
tournament," Lavin said. "You want to be able to feel confident and
feel good about yourselves."
Said senior Toby Bailey: "The good thing about this team is that
we know what we have to do in order to win."
And what they will do in order to win is use their pressure
defense.
UCLA got back into the game against Washington, taking a one
point lead with two seconds left after being down by as much as 19
points thanks in large part to the press. (Though the Bruins would
eventually lose on two last second UW free throws, 95-94.)
The press forced 12 second half Husky turnovers. And the press
upped the tempo of the game, allowing UCLA to get off 42 shot
attempts in the second half as the Bruins scored 64 points in just
one half.
"When we had Jelani (McCoy) we were looking at being more a
power team, focusing on our size," Lavin said. "But now to offset
the lack of size on our frontline, pressing is a kind of natural
(strategy) and it also plays to the strength of this group of seven
or eight players that are in the rotation.
"Now, I think that we’re at a position where we can’t afford not
to press."
UCLA had a difficult time putting ASU away earlier this season,
squeaking by the Devils 78-73 in Tempe.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
The Bruins hope for a win against ASU tonight.