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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1978)
UL/LA strengths too much as Mac Court strinq falls By MIKE MARINO Emerald Sports Editor Goliath had his revenge Satur day. After having been shocked twice in a row in Mac Court, UCLA showed everyone how wide the talent gap is in the Pac-8 this year by molesting Oregon, 83-57, for the worst Duck loss in the Pit in 10 years. This time around there wasn't much doubt. The Ducks played with some spunk for the first 10 minutes of the game, but then the Bruins awoke and muscled, shot, and ran their way to their 13th con ference win. And the Ducks, well, they could only try. "Certainly we had an opportun ity early in the game," shrugged Oregon Coach Dick Harter. “If we could have shot well and played intelligently we could have stayed in the game." For the most part Oregon did neither. The Ducks again shot miserably (21-66, 32 percent) from any range you’d care to name, and fell victim to the old Bruin staples: the press and the fast break. What gave us the run-away was our press," said UCLA Coach Gary Cunningham. “It gave us turnovers and fast break baskets — that's what we call our ‘transi tion’ game." Whatever it’s called, it settled the affair rather early — and eas ily. After Oregon opened fast, with Rich Davis driving the key for a swooping hook-dunk over the Bruins’ Gig Sims and Mike Clark hitting two foul shots, UCLA took over. Guard Raymond Townsend tied the game at four with a 18-footer from the left side angle, and backcourt mate Roy Hamilton followed with a banker off the UCLA fast break. With just over seven minutes gone, the Bruins had the lead for good.. Briefly, Oregon stayed close, but with 9:31 to go, James Wilkes stuffed one off the break that really set the tone for the rest of the af ternoon. The Bruins would hold a clinic. “They played well,” Harter said, “but our big people, other than Rich Davis and Felton (Sealey), were non-existent. We didn’t block out underneath; we didn’t contest them. “The way we played was just incredible.” One might have said that about UCLA. The Bruin talent made Oregon’s mistakes look all too glaring, and unlike Thursday night — a win over USC — the Ducks never controlled the game. “We knew when we came in that they were going to play a slow-down game,” said Town send, who like Hamilton had 20 points. “So we tried to speed the game up a bit, and take the tempo away from them.” My, how it worked. With David Greenwood laying claim to the boards, UCLA had three-on-two or three-on-one breaks time after time. And that more than made up for the fact that Greenwood ended the night with just two hoops in twleve tries. “I just couldn’t hit the side of a barn,” the 6-9 junior smiled. “But it was a big game for us — it showed that I didn’t have to score in order for us to win." "And it showed we had a lot of pride in this game. We showed everybody, I think, that we could win in the Pit.” With a little luck, Oregon could have had something to say about that. Although the Ducks hit but one of their first nine shots — sound familiar?— they stayed close for most of the first half. “I don’t think that the game was too easy," Cunningham said. “We only managed to get the lead with some spurts at different times.” The first “time" came after a TV time-out at 8:15 of the first half, with UCLA leading 14-12. Town send canned a 10-footer off the fast break, and after the Ducks' John Murray traveled, Wilkes tip ped in a missed Townsend shot for 18-12. Sensing the kill, Wilkes stole the Danny Mack and Gig Sims fought over control of this loose ball, but it was the Bruins who controlled the ball and the game in their 83-57 thrashing of Oregon. Oregon Daily Emerald .*» ‘id/t'id * ’i ‘ijJ * ■ flQt f Photo# by Stowe Schneider appearance. Mike Drummond plays defense against Roy Hamilton in his last Mac Court ball on the press and drove the lane for his second stuff — quick as a wink UCLA led by eight with out breaking a sweat. Oregon traded hoops with the Bruins the rest of the half, but trail ing by 11 with :49 to go Harter called for the one shot offense. ‘We wanted to take that last shot,” Harter said. “When you play ;ike we did in the first half, you just want to get out of there.” They got out all right, but only after they’d thrown the ball away and muffed their chance at momentum for the intermission. The Bruins added five points to the lead after halftime, but Oregon closed to within 12 when Mike Drummond— playing his last home game for Oregon — swished a 20-foot jumper from the left baseline with 15:44 left. In another spurt, though Greenwood, Townsend, and Sims all connected and the lead was ballooned to 18 at 13:37, and two minutes later it was 20, then 25, and so on. “I thought Oregon would make a run at us in the second half,” Cunningham mused. “But we were able to control the game tempo and the game.” Just like they’ve controlled the conference. (S3)— Holland 4. Townsend 20, Hamilton 20. Uppert. Sims 2, Alums 5. Greenwood 7, Wilkes 11. Kelly 4, Anderson 3, Vandeweghe 7. Oregon (57) — Drummond 10, Lyon 5. Bamer 10. Murray 2, Mack 2, Sea ley 10, Clwk 5, Closs 8, Small 3, Hartshome, Davis 2. Changes reflect Bruin record By MIKE GRADY Of the Emerald "The game is over.” There was still 7:14 remaining in only the first half of play, but that’s when the man sitting behind me said it. UCLA's James Wilkes had just put the Bruins on top by eight, 20 to 12, with their third straight unanswered basket. You could almost hear the collective groan of 10,500 Duck fans as they sensed what was soon to become the inevitable. As a year that the UCLA Bruins were supposed to have a tougher time than ususal winning the Pac-8 title, it hasn’t turned out that way at all. And anyone who wit nessed the Bruin’s 83-57 runaway against Oregon on Saturday would have a hard time explaining it any other way. “We re just playing the best we can,’’ said UCLA’s 6-9 sophomore Gig Sims. “It really means a lot to us to go undefeated in league.” And with one more conference game against Southern California next weekend, the Bruins can do just that — something every sports writer and Pac-8 coach was betting against last December. The major change affecting the Bruins, besides the graduation loss of All-American Marques Johnson, appears to be the coach ing change from Gene Bartow to Gary Cunningham. Under Cun ningham, a long time assistant coach at UCLA, there is a cohe siveness that was lacking during the two year stint of the man of deranged idiots” fame. No longer do the Bruins stand around on offense, waiting and watching for one of their consen sus All-Americans to invent some new move. Instead, they now move without the ball, setting picks for a guard cutting low or trying to dump into a posting big man. Even Cunningham’s com ments after the game are indica tive of the attitude change of the Bruins this season. “It was a tremendous team vic tory for us, he said. “It was just the way we like to play. ‘The key to success for us is what I call our transition game' and ourpress,” Cunningham said. “And our press was very good to us tonight.” f The question of whether the Bruins can keep this success streak going or not will soon be answered as they return to Eugene for the NCAA Western Regionals in two weeks. If they get by cross-town rival Southern Cal next Saturday, the Bruins will boast of having lost only two times this year—both of those setbacks coming in a home and away series with Notre Dame. As Townsend sat on a bench and fielded questions, he alluded to the fact that this year’s version of UCLA is highly comparable to the Bruin team he played on as a freshman and which went all the way to the NCAA title. We have a strong team,” Townsend said. “I think we're strong in every facet of the game and that’s why I think this team is going someplace." MR. PLANT atCenxdCiuc "Pta*t Stop Low prices - daily specials Close to Campus Find us inside Quackenbush 160 E. Broadway Page 13
