Bruins Score on the Rebound

Another UCLA turnover.

The Bruins went from having 26 of them Thursday night against Arizona, their most in nearly three years, to one big one Saturday against Arizona State, flip-flopping to several new looks in defeating the Sun Devils, 83-77, before 9,557 at Pauley Pavilion and avoiding their worst conference start since 1945-46.

Jason Kapono was different. After committing 10 turnovers two days earlier and calling it the worst game of his life, the freshman responded with four three-point baskets and a game-high and season-high 24 points. He had only two turnovers in 37 minutes.

Ray Young and Matt Barnes were very different. Barnes, a sophomore forward averaging 5.3 points a game, got a career-high 17 points, along with six rebounds. This came as Young, struggling to where he had been replaced as the starting shooting guard, turned a turf war with Arizona State’s Eddie House into his best performance in weeks, a defensive job that had the impact to match the offensive numbers of any teammate.

And, the Bruin defense was different enough. Going away from the matchup zone that had been a critical part of this season’s success--there had been some, contrary to popular opinion--they went man-to-man most of the way and held the conference’s top-scoring team and top-scoring individual to below their respective standards.

Arizona State came in averaging 82.3 points a game, then made 33.3% of its shots in the second half, 37.5% in all. House, averaging 23.7, had 18, but 12 came in the first six minutes and only five came in the second half with the game still in doubt.

Nice timing. Only a 1-4 Pacific 10 record, which would have been UCLA’s biggest stumble since a 0-4 start in the old Pacific Coast Conference, was on the line. A loss would also have meant four losses in six games, with additional dangers ahead in the next three games: at Oregon State and Oregon, home against Stanford.

Instead, the Bruins (11-5) showed resilience. Again.

“They were embarrassed Thursday night, so they had a resolve to come out strong against the next team,” Arizona State Coach Rob Evans said. “We happened to be the next team.”

The bad breaks were only beginning. Just the Sun Devils’ luck that House had to be from near San Francisco, which never seemed to be much a problem when he was hitting California for 61 points, tying Lew Alcindor’s conference record, or San Diego State for 46 and Penn State for 42 last month. It was a problem now.

“We’re from the same area,” Young said. “He was the next city over. We were both first-team all-metro. Both MVP candidates. You want to beat the hometown guy.”

Said Barnes: “Ray really wanted to play well. They see each other every summer, and Eddie’s always saying how he lights up UCLA. Ray took that real personal.”

Grudge match. Young was on the bench again for the start, playing behind Rico Hines for the third consecutive game, but it didn’t matter too much because no one was really on House anyway.

His first shot was a three-pointer alone on the left baseline. Good.

His second, against a double-team, was a straight-away three-pointer. Good.

His fourth, after a miss, was from well behind the arc on the right side. Good.

His sixth shot, he went behind a screen to shake Earl Watson, then went for a three-pointer from the right side. Good.

Arizona State (11-6, 3-3) led, 12-9, with 5:53 gone and House had all the points, all from long range. When “Uh-oh” might have been an understandable response, the Bruins instead switched to the man-to-man defense they would use most of the rest of the way.

With Hines limited to four minutes because of a foot injury, and especially with Young again looking like the standout defender from a season ago, Young stayed on House almost the entire second half. That’s when House went one for eight from the field--he was one for 11 after the first six minutes--and when the Bruins sealed the win by making seven of eight free throws in the final 1:14.

“I think he was really frustrated today,” said Young, who also jump-started his struggling offensive game by making two three-pointers and scoring 10 points. “Today, we did a good job of keeping him out of his rhythm.”

And of getting in one themselves. Again.