Joy may be gone,
but UCLA doesn’t
it to win
ByPAULBUKER
Of the Emerald
If the joy of winning is gone from UCLA’s perrenial national
champions, you can bet Bill Walton is still going to get some kicks
from tonight’s game with Oregon.
The Pit is ready for the 8:05 tip-off. Realists chalk up win 67 in a
row for John Wooden’s team. Romanticists think freshmen can beat
the Bruins.
Walton could care. He just wants to get out of Mac Court as quick
as he caft. But a thrashing of the Ducks would be nice in front of Mac
Court’s 10,500 fanatics.
“I like hostile crowds,” Big Bill says, “They make me play bet
ter.”
Dick Harter calls UCLA the greatest collegiate team of all time.
That makes The Ducks one of history’s biggest underdogs and if you
concede 10 home-court points to Harter’s crew because of the roars of
the Pit, it still comes out 64-48. Win No. 67 in a row along the ho-hum
trail of Bruin athletic history.
The Bruins, owners of the NCAA Championship the last six years
and winners of an incredible 196 of 201 games to date, stole quietly into
Mac Court Wednesday night for a practice session.
Before John Wooden’s aides could kick out the curious, it was
revealed that the Bruins are engaged in preparation for a sleepwalk.
They expect the Ducks to stall.
Los Angeies writers slammed Dick Harter for his slowdown at
Pauley Pavilion and he’ll get flack tonight from the same menagerie
of reporters.
If you want excitement, let the Celtics run with Walton’s gang.
Survival dictates common sense. Oregon won’t run with the Bruins.
Wooden is simply trying to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself
in the form of something like Oregon’s 78-65 victory in 1970.
History was made last weekend in the Bay Area when the Ducks,
sparked by Ron Lee and Doug Little, gunned down Stanford and Cal to
pop up in third place in the Pac-8.
But home is where Oregon’s heart lies. That and a 9-0 record.
“Mac Court is alot more intimidating than Pauley Pavilion,” says
Lee, the man from Lexington, Mass., who has slowly turned into
Oregon’s Mr. Clutch.
“The fans are louder .. . they get us keyed up and we play a lot
better.”
Obviously, if the screams from row three get Walton keyed up,
too, the Ducks are in fra a long evening.
The problems begin when Oregon has the ball.
Harter must crane up with some kind of offense against the best
defense in the conference — and UCLA’s feared zone press. He has to
hope his Ducks shoot over 60 per cent from the floor and maintain
some semblance of survival on the boards.
The relentless pressure of the Bruin press withered the young
Webfoots quickly in the second half a month ago.
“Their zone just killed us,” said Lee. “We were nervous and
they were playing their usual game."
Tempo, notes John Wooden, is the key. UCLA seizes the pace of
every game and relentlessly wears down each opponent. All with
characteristic impassivity.
Watching Bruins games at Pauley Pavilion is like watching re
runs. And on the road, where UCLA’s streak is now 31 straight, it’s
just as business-like.
The rest of the league has a simple solution fra these traumatic
back-to-back games with UCLA and USC: forget the Bruins, key for
the Trojans.
Past results seem to give credence to that philosophy. Nobody’s
thinking about the NIT and The Pit. Happiness is scaring hell out of
Walton with sheer volume and gtaing hone content with a narrow loss.
If Oregon beats USC Saturday night, and the Ducks nearly did it in
Los Angeles, then they’ve still got a chance at third place in the con
ference.
Now 6-3, the Ducks would be 7-4 counting a logical loss tonight, just
one game back of Bob Boyd’s team.
But none of the Kamikaze Kids are conceding a thing to the Wizard
of Westwood. Foolhardy, yes, but so was Harter’s hope fra a .500
season this year.
Fra those who vowed to give up masochism after last year’s tangle
with UCLA at Mac Court (a 93-68 drubbing) and didn’t get tickets, it
will be broadcast live on KUGN radio.
A delay telecast of the game will be shown on KEZI (Channel 9)
beginning at 11 p.m.
By 11 p.m., the realist in Dick Harter will more than likely take
command. He’ll get down to business and go after the Trojans, who
after all, are beatable.
UCLA isn’t. This time.
r
PA CIFIC-8 ST A TISTICS
SCORING — Walton. UCLA, 19.3, Price, Wash., 19.0; Nelson, Wash., 18.9; Lee,
Oregon. IM( Little, Oregon. IS.3; Dolven. WSU, 18.2; Kelley, Stanford, 17.4; Chap
man, USC, 16.3; Jorgenson, OSU. 14.6; Hawthorne, Cal, 14.3.
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE — Walton, UCLA. 80 136, .588, Kelley, Stanford,
61 109, 560, Farmer, UCLA. 52 95,. 547. Wilkes, UCLA, 57 109, .523. Jeffries, WSU, 28
55. .509; Miller. OSU. 43-85 . 506; Meier, Cal. 44-88, .500; Willett, Ore., 28-56, .500; Long,
Cal, 29 59. .492, Jones, OSU. 29 59, .492.
FREE THROW PERCENTAGE — Jorgenson. OSU. 17 18. .944, Jones, OSU. 20
22, .909; Anderson, USC. 27 30, 900, Little, Oregon. 31 35, .886. Price, Wash., 31 37,
838. Miller. OSU. 20 24. 833. Williams. USC. 18 23. .823. Dolven. WSU, 18 24. .750,
Kelley, Stanford, 35-47, .745; Farmer, UCLA, 14-19, .737.
REBOUNDING —Walton, UCLA. 150-16.7; Kelley. Stanford. 115-12.8; Whitehead.
OSU, SO 8.9. Meier, Cal. 78-8.7. Chapman. USC, 76-8.4; Price, Wash., 75-8.3; Lambert,
USC, 74 8.2. Dolven. WSU. 71 7.9, Willett, Oregon. 67-7.4; Coughran. Cal, 65-7.2.
Photo by James Link
CAN HARTER WORK ANOTHER MIRACLE ?
In Pac-8 wrestling meet
Matmen picked for third
Oregon State and Washington, both ranked
among the top four teams in the nation, are ex
pected to battle for the championship when the
Pacific-* wrestling meet opens Friday at Oregon
State.
Most people concede the Beavers and Huskies
the top of the standings when the meet concludes
Saturday afternoon, but the battle for third is wide
open, with Washington State, Qregon, California,
UCLA and Stanford in the race.
Six champions from last year are expected to be
on hand to defend their titles, with yet another
winner from last year sidelined because of an in
jury. Four of the defending title holders are from
Oregon State — Tom Phillips, 118, Mike R. Jones,
158, Greg Strobel, 190, and heavyweight Jim Hagen.
The other two are from Washington, last year’s
outstanding wrestler, Hajime Shinjo, 150, and Bill
Murdock, 190. Oregon’s Mark Purkey, the first
freshman to win a Pac-8 title when he won the crown
at 167 pounds last year, is out of the meet with an
injured knee.
Two other champions from past year could be
on hand. Oregon State’s Jim Crumley, who did not
compete last year after winning the 177 pound title
in 1970 and again in 1971, will be there, and
Washington’s Bill Allen, 190 pound winner in 1971,
may be ready to go for the Huskies.
Beaver coach Dale Thomas expects to have five
first place candidates, the four returning cham
pions from last year, and Crumley. Consolation
results, Thomas feels, will be where Oregon State
will win the title, if they do.
“We’ve got to do well in the consolation round
s,” he said, “because the Huskies have a very well
balanced team. We may have more champions, but
they could have more kids place than the Beavers.”
Oregon will be one of the favorites to push the
Beavers and Huskies. Coach Ron Finley has been
hit hard by injuries and will be fielding a squad with
only one senior, 134 pounder Dave Luke, who is
second on Oregon’s all-time winning list. Luke was
second at 126 last year, fourth the year before at 134.
Mike Oilar was third at 142 last year and Duane
Stutzman was fourth at 150 in 1972.
Two other Ducks, Don Evans and Purkey, are
out of the meet because of knee injuries. Evans was
fourth at 158 and Purkey, as mentioned, won the
title at 167.
Women playing
OSU tonight
The women’s version of the Or eg on-Oregon
State basketball Civil War goes into its second
round tonight. The junior varsity and varsity teams
from both schools will play in B54 Gerlinger. The
J.V. or B game begins at 4:30 p.m.
The Oregon A team lost the first game between
the two schools. This is the second and final
meeting, unless the teams are paired against each
other in the championship tournament early in
March.
Saturday the Oregon A and B teams travel to
Portland for games against Portland State.