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."
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