Monday, January 25, 1999
JaRon Rush drives to, through Louisville
MHOOPS: After turbulent flight and first half, Bruins
recover
to take care of Cardinals, 82-70
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bruins’ trip to Louisville was as bumpy as
a ride on a pothole-filled street, as shaky as a compact car with a
flat tire, and as up and down as a piston on overdrive.
But then they played the game.
And in what would have to be considered comparatively smooth
sailing, UCLA dominated the second half and took care of Louisville
82-70 in front of over 19,000 fans in Freedom Hall.
"This was a great step," head coach Steve Lavin said, "to come
in and win on the floor of a great program. They just played
extremely hard today."
En route to Kentucky, UCLA was forced to fly through the
thunderstorms that terrorized the southeast over the weekend. This
resulted in an extremely turbulent approach to the Bruins’ stopover
in Memphis – so turbulent, in fact, that one Bruin refused to
continue on to Louisville.
Freshman forward JaRon Rush couldn’t be coaxed back onto the
plane, so he and three administrative assistants picked up a rental
car and drove the remainder of the nearly 400 mile trek to
Louisville.
"Let’s just say I’m glad I’m going home," Rush said after the
Bruin victory – the fourth for UCLA (14-4) in its past five games,
and 12th in its past 14.
The Bruins should be thankful that the drive up the interstate
was smoother – if not longer – than the flight, as Rush was able to
complete the journey and contribute mightily to the UCLA cause. He
finished the game with eight points and nine rebounds. Most
impressively, he led the Bruins with seven boards in the second
half, which aided UCLA in its 20-minute assault on No. 24
Louisville (10-5).
But Rush wasn’t the only sharp shooter on this Bruin
blitzkreig.
Rather, nearly everyone contributed as UCLA outscored Louisville
22-6 in the first seven minutes of the second half, turning a
seven-point halftime deficit into a 53-44 lead – a lead that would
never dip below six points the rest of the contest.
As a team, UCLA shot 67 percent from the field in the second
half, compared to 31 percent in the first 20 minutes.
Forward Jerome Moiso and guard Baron Davis both had 15
second-half points for the Bruins.
Davis missed only one field goal attempt all day and finished
with a game high 25 points, and had six assists in only 26 minutes
of action.
But it wasn’t only on the offensive end that UCLA dominated.
"Defense is the reason we were able to turn it around in the
second half," Lavin said. "We were quick to the ball and quick in
transition, moving from offense to defense and defense to
offense."
In fact, UCLA scored 17 points off 16 second-half Cardinal
turnovers and held Louisville to under 35 percent shooting in the
final 20 minutes.
"I wish I could tell you what the problem was," Louisville head
coach Denny Crum said. "We played really poorly. We haven’t done
anything right all week."
Crum was alluding to the Cardinals’ 81-55 loss at home to No.5
Cincinatti two nights before.
One of the problems for Louisville was the play of senior guard
Cameron Murray. Though he finished with a team-high 20 points, he
was held to two of nine shooting in the second half and he
committed seven turnovers.
"We wanted to pressure the ball," Lavin said. "Every game we key
on a particular player, and it was Murray tonight."
In the first half, Murray and the rest of his Cardinal teammates
were having their way with the Bruins.
For one half, it looked as though Louisville would be able to
take advantage of a UCLA squad weakened by the loss of 6 foot, 10
inch center Dan Gadzuric, who missed the game due to a severely
sprained ankle suffered in UCLA’s 98-80 win over USC on
Wednesday.
By halftime, the Cardinals had seven blocked shots and the
Bruins’ frontcourt was held to only four of 21 shooting from the
field.
However, the frontcourt quartet of Rush, Moiso, Travis Reed and
Matt Barnes made 10 of its 15 second-half shots and Louisville was
limited to only three blocks.
"We adjusted to their switching defense," said Lavin. "We came
down and concentrated on ball reversals and dribbling out to the
wings.
"At halftime we challenged the whole team. We agreed if we were
going to go down, we were going to go down fighting. We were very
passive in the first half, but came out with more aggression in the
second half."
Well, one challenge from this trip was met. The only challenge
remaining was to arrive home safely.
With the whole team. On the same flight. The Associated
Press
UCLA’s Baron Davis tries to work the ball inside the defense of
Louisville’s Cameron Murray during the first quarter of Saturday’s
away game. UCLA pulled out from behind in the second half to beat
the Cardinals 82-70.
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