Bruins Fail a Real Test

Toto, they’re not playing Morgan State anymore.

The 11th-ranked UCLA Bruins finally picked on someone their own size Saturday and found they weren’t even the toughest kid on this block, getting hammered in the second half and losing to No. 24 Gonzaga, 59-43, before 9,951 at Pauley Pavilion and raising more questions about what lies ahead than the weak schedule that came before.

All you had to do was look to know that. Start on the court, where the Bruins supposedly have superior skill inside, but were largely doomed by a lack of interior defense. They shot 24.1% in the second half and 26.2% overall (16 of 61). They had six assists and 16 turnovers.

Or look on the bench, where Matt Barnes, JaRon Rush and Ryan Bailey watched in street clothes. Another week without a game should allow Bailey and his troublesome right foot to return against DePaul, but Barnes could still be done for the season and Rush could be done, period. Barnes hopes a successful run of final exams this week will allow his academic suspension to be lifted after he sat out the first four games, but Rush’s standing is very uncertain, with several sources confirming that his suspension comes while UCLA investigates his ties to an agent.

Or, all you had to do was listen.

“We’ve got a long ways to go,” guard Earl Watson said. “We’re nowhere close to where we need to be. Far, far away.”

That’s what Saturday proved, the measuring-stick game the Bruins had sought after opening against Fairfield, Iona and Morgan State, but not the result they ever would have considered.

Tying the record for their worst nonconference defeat at Pauley Pavilion, a 16-point loss matched only by the DePaul game in 1983-84?

Setting the record for fewest points they have scored in Pauley Pavilion, their home since 1965-66?

Getting their second-fewest points anywhere (just ahead of the 41 against Princeton) since the introduction of the shot clock in 1985-86?

Circumstance alone dictated this couldn’t happen. UCLA, after all, had 10 days to prepare for this game, since beating Morgan State by 61 points on Dec. 1. Gonzaga was on the last leg of a three-game swing that included ranked opponents and tough travel within a week, going to Cleveland to play Cincinnati and then returning home, going to Chicago to play Temple and then returning to Spokane, Wash., and finally reaching Los Angeles on Friday evening.

The Bulldogs (5-2) didn’t even have the extra hours of rest that would have come with a night game, instead getting a 2 p.m. tipoff to accommodate TV. All that left to decide was UCLA’s excuse. The Bruins (3-1) led at halftime, 26-21, but also shot 28.1% and got only six minutes from Jerome Moiso before he picked up three fouls.

Whatever momentum UCLA had--the rest, the preparation, the lead despite obvious struggles--disappeared immediately after the break. Gonzaga opened with a 7-0 run to move ahead, the Bruins soon briefly tied the score, and then got left behind for good.

They fell behind by 11 when the methodical Bulldogs found unexpected success inside, getting three consecutive baskets from three feet or closer. UCLA, searching for any kind of spark, had Moiso, Watson and Jason Kapono with four fouls--and kept them all in.

It didn’t help. Nothing did. The Bruins, short-handed, were being cut down to size.

“Those are excuses,” UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said of the foul trouble and the absence of key players because of injury and off-court issues. “We still, in the second half, got out-competed, especially in the paint. It’s not as though we were playing a dominant frontline team like Stanford.

“We had 10 days off to prepare and played very poorly. That one’s on me. I take the blame as the head coach.”

Gonzaga made sure there was a lot of it. The Bulldogs, with three starters back from the unlikely run to the West Regional final in last season’s NCAA tournament, kept finding success inside and extended the advantage to 18 with 46 seconds remaining.

Only once in the second half did the Bruins manage more than two unanswered points, while Gonzaga had a pair of 9-0 runs and another of 7-0. The difference in those final 20 minutes was 38-17--in favor of the tired team that had little time to prepare for a ranked opponent. In the end, UCLA had gone from a 61-point win to a 16-point loss the very next game.

“Not shocked, just terribly disappointed,” Kapono said. “They just gave it to us tonight. They tested our heart and tested our pride. They took our heart and pride.”

Not to mention their good start.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Pauley Want a Scorer

UCLA’s 59-43 loss to Gonzaga on Saturday was the lowest Bruin point total at Pauley Pavilion since it opened in 1965. Here are some other low points in UCLA history (* denotes home game):

LOW SCORE AT PAULEY PAVILION

SEASON SCORE

1999-00: Gonzaga 59, UCLA 43

1968-69: USC 46, UCLA 44

1975-76: Oregon 65, UCLA 45

LOW SCORE SINCE 1950-51

1966-67: UCLA 34, Oregon 25

1966-67: UCLA 40, USC 35

1950-51: USC 43, UCLA 41*

1995-96: Princeton 43, UCLA 41

LOW SCORE IN UCLA HISTORY

1925-26: California 22, UCLA 8