Monday, March 16, 1998
Bruins celebrate sweet taste of success
In fight to the finish, toughened team proves that they’re not
afraid of big, bad Wolverines
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Staff
ATLANTA — The Bruins did something Sunday that they hadn’t been
able to accomplish all season long.
They played solid basketball … for 40 minutes.
The Bruins’ best basketball game of the season came on a timely
occasion, as they kept their season alive by upsetting Michigan,
85-82, in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
"We definitely played 40 minutes of good basketball," senior
guard Toby Bailey said. "I am so happy with the way everybody
played – we left it all out on the court."
And as a reward, UCLA (24-8) earns a trip to St. Petersburg,
Fla., and a date with second-seeded Kentucky in the South regional
semifinals next weekend.
The upset of the third-seeded Wolverines (25-9) came only two
days after the Bruins survived a first-round nail-biter with Miami.
In much the same fashion as its first-round victory, UCLA used
clutch free-throw shooting to clinch the win.
Kris Johnson made eight consecutive free throws over the final
38 seconds to close out the victory that shocked the 19,423 fans on
hand at the Georgia Dome.
But free-throw shooting was about the only thing the two games
had in common. While UCLA trailed Miami by 10 points early in the
first half, the Bruins came out on fire against Michigan.
"(Against Miami) we got the first game out of our system,"
Johnson said. "But, before this game, we were feeling really good,
and we’re ready to go and give a great effort. Considering the
magnitude of the game, this was one of our best performances both
offensively and defensively."
UCLA tied its season high by converting nine of 17 three-point
attempts and made 55 percent of its field-goal attempts.
The entire Bruin lineup was hot – Johnson had a game-high 25
points while Bailey converted seven of his 11 field goal attempts
(including 3 of 4) from the three-point stripe to propel him to a
19-point performance, while J.R. Henderson, Earl Watson and Travis
Reed also scored in the double digits.
It was a good thing for the Bruins that their shots were
falling, because they were absolutely dominated on the boards by
the much taller Wolverines.
Led by 6-foot-8-inch Robert "Tractor" Traylor and 6-foot-9-inch
Jerod Ward, the Wolverines out-rebounded UCLA 44-27.
"We lost to a team we should have beaten," Michigan head coach
Brian Ellerbe said. "We had lots of opportunities; we just didn’t
take advantage of them."
But the Bruins took advantage of every opportunity they got, and
as a result, they will be competing with Kentucky, Duke and
Syracuse for the right to advance to the Final Four.
One uncertainty that remains is how healthy point guard Baron
Davis will be. Davis came out of the game late in the first half
after rolling his ankle and hearing a pop. He returned in the
second half hobbling, picking up three quick fouls before leaving –
having played only a total of 14 minutes.
"I’m not sure right now what the situation is," Davis said.
"I’ll have to wait for the MRI (on Monday)."
Regardless, the Bruins answered a question that’s been on
everybody’s mind the entire season.
Yes, they really can play 40 minutes of good basketball.
And when they do, they are hard to beat.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
J.R. Henderson had 13 points in UCLA’s 85-82 upset of the
third-seeded Michigan Wolverines at the Georgia Dome.