DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior Billy
Knight goes up against a Washington defender in Saturday’s
loss in Seattle, the final game of Pac-10 play. MEN’S
BASKETBALL vs. Today 11:55 a.m. Greensboro Coliseum TV –
CBS Radio 1150 AM Internet – uclabruins.com
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA (21-8) embarks upon its mission for its twelfth national
championship banner today. The Sons of Westwood are in Greensboro,
N.C., for a date with America East conference champion Hofstra
(26-4).
“Our team is looking forward to the challenge in playing
Hofstra,” said Bruin Head Coach Steve Lavin, who was named
the 2001 Pac-10 Conference coach of the year on Monday. “They
are the hottest team in the country in terms of their 18-game
winning streak.”
“They know how to win and when teams know how to do that,
that’s the toughest thing to contend with,” senior
guard Earl Watson said of Hofstra. “Every first round game is
a war. We just need to stay patient. If we play within ourselves,
then good things can happen.”
Both teams are riding high entering March Madness.
The Pride boast the nation’s longest win streak. The last
victory came in a 68-54 victory over Delaware in the America East
tournament title game.
The Bruins, meanwhile, are licking their wounds from a 96-94
loss to Pac-10 doormat Washington on March 10. The Bruins, however,
have won eight of their last 10 and have high RPI and
strength-of-schedule ratings to back up their credentials. They are
not looking for sympathy, but just to get back on the floor and
play up to their ability.
UCLA may have a tougher road than most to get to the Final Four
in Minneapolis, with Ohio State or Utah State awaiting them in a
possible second-round matchup Saturday. With a win there, they
could possibly face Duke in the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia.
However, the Bruins are taking it one game at a time.
“It comes down to playing basketball for 40 minutes and
forgetting about our seedings or being sent out East,”
sophomore forward Jason Kapono said. “We just have to go out
and play to win.”
DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior forward Matt
Barnes and the rest of the Bruins are looking to beat the
Hofstra Pride in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Hofstra
will challenge UCLA to play at a pace suitable to their liking.
“They said that they wanted to run with us,” senior
guard Ryan Bailey said. “I hope so. That will be good for us
because that’s the type of tempo we like to push. Hopefully,
we can let our athletic ability take over the game.”
Lacking size in the frontcourt ““ with starting center Greg
Springfield listed at 6-foot-9 ““ the Pride get offensive
production from their guards.
Point guard Jason Hernandez drops 12.1 points and dishes almost
four assists per contest. His trusty sidekick at off-guard,
sophomore Rick Apodaca, has a 12 point-per-game average.
Lavin’s comparison of Hofstra to a team like Gonzaga ““
one that can creep up on teams ““ is not farfetched.
“They play the whole game,” Lavin said. “As
far as I could see from their last game in their conference
championship against Delaware, they shoot the ball pretty well.
They are pretty athletic, quick and have a good balance on their
team.”
But the focus of UCLA’s defense should be on senior
forward Norman Richardson. His team-leading 16.8 points per night
and six-rebound clip will be under the watchful eye of Bruin junior
forward Matt Barnes.
Barnes is versatile in beating opposing frontline players off
the dribble, but it will be his defensive intensity in the
halfcourt against Richardson, as well as in the full court press,
that decides whether the Bruins go one and out or live to see
another day.
“Defensive energy and intensity is something we need to
always bring even when our shots aren’t falling,”
Bailey said. “That mind-set will create easy offense for
us.”
“We need to learn from our setbacks,” Lavin said.
“We need to get defensive stops and shutouts if we want to
survive in the tournament."
STARTING LINEUP UCLA Bruins
(21-8) Position Name
YR PPG RPG Small
Forward Jason Kapono So. 17.7 5.9 Power Forward Matt Barnes Jr.
11.9 7.2 Center Dan Gadzuric Jr. 11.6 8.2 Shooting Guard Billy
Knight Jr. 7.4 1.7 Point Guard Earl Watson Sr. 14.6 3.4
Hofstra Pride (2-4) Position
Name YR PPG
RPG Small Forward Norman Richardson Sr. 16.8 6.0
Power Forward Roberto Gittens Sr. 10.7 6.9 Center Greg Springfield
Sr. 5.6 7.4 Shooting Guard Rick Apodaca So. 12.0 3.4 Point Guard
Jason Hernandez Sr. 12.1 2.2 SOURCE: Sports Information Original by
VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin
Senior Staff UCLA POSTSEASON HONORS Five members
of the UCLA men’s basketball program were honored for their
achievements during the 2000-01 season. SOURCE: UCLA Sports
Information Original by VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by
MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff