UCLA Beats the Irish, Reheats the Rivalry on Late Surge, 63-59

There was strength on both sides of the line of scrimmage Saturday. A priest sat on the Notre Dame bench, and John Wooden sat opposite the UCLA bench. No edge there.

So, the Bruins would have to find an advantage somewhere else, which they eventually did in their 63-59 victory over Notre Dame. All right, what did the trick?

Was it the full-court press that took the starch out of the Irish in the last three minutes when they turned the ball over eight times trying to hold a lead, as UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard suggested?

Or was it something more sinister, such as the officials, as Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said?

Stop it, you guys. Maybe you’re both right. One of college basketball’s most heated rivalries grew a little more intense before 12,552 fans who gathered at Pauley Pavilion and saw the Bruins put together a rescue mission to win a game they probably should have lost.

“They have conditioned me to expect the unexpected,” said Hazzard, whose team’s record improved to 12-4. “What can I say about this team?”

It was probably better to say nothing. Just get Reggie Miller the ball somewhere near half-court and see what happens.

With 10 seconds to play, Miller delivered a three-pointer from real Reggie Range, about 24 feet out, to put UCLA ahead. And that is where the Bruins stayed, with Notre Dame’s David Rivers charging into Dave Immel with three seconds left in the Irish’s final offensive bid to tie the game at 61-61.

They never got that far, and that’s what really burned Phelps, who was on a short fuse all day. Afterward, he exploded and unloaded on the three Pacific 10 referees who worked the game.

Phelps said the officials were as much responsible for the collapse of the Irish as the UCLA press. There simply were not enough fouls called, Phelps insisted.

“Those were the worst Pac-10 officials I’ve had at Pauley in 16 years,” Phelps said after the Irish lost for the fifth time in 14 games. “David Rivers did not charge. If anything, he goes to the (free-throw) line.

“There was a lot of bumping and shoving going on, but there were no calls in the last four minutes,” Phelps said. “You just take a look at the last four minutes on video and tell me if I’m wrong.”

Just so Digger didn’t have to wait that long, Hazzard said right away that he thought Phelps was wrong.

“Our players won the game,” Hazzard said. “There have been some nights when we had some calls go against us, but I’m not going to go out and cry about it.”

Pooh Richardson, the UCLA point guard, was somewhat more direct when he said, in a reference to Rivers, his counterpart: “When your point guard turns the ball over 10 times, five times in the last four minutes, how can you blame the referees?”

It was probably worth a try anyway. What the heck? There’s nothing like a little controversy to breathe some life back into a series that had been looking a bit stale lately.

That was the way the Bruins were playing it for most of the way. Why, with only 3:19 remaining, Notre Dame was half-courting UCLA to death. The Irish held a 57-46 lead, and the Bruins’ eight-game winning streak seemed to be slowly, very slowly, coming to an end.

But from there, UCLA outscored Notre Dame, 17-2, and took advantage of a whole mini-series of mistakes by the Irish, who had absolutely no luck with the referees or the steam-cleaning full-court pressure the Bruins applied.

After four consecutive turnovers by the Irish--two by Rivers--in just over a minute, the Bruins were right back in it. Craig Jackson, a hunch substitution by Hazzard, who was also using freshman Kevin Walker at center, tipped in a missed shot with 1:49 left, and UCLA was within 57-55.

Rivers came right back with a short jumper, and when Richardson shanked a couple of free throws, the Irish looked safe at 59-55. But then Walker drew a charge from Donald Royal, and Jackson made one of two free throws after being fouled by Gary Voce, the Irish center’s fifth personal.

So Voce went to the bench, and along with him went his game-high 13 rebounds and the two-man game that he and Rivers had worked consistently well. Phelps inserted Sean Connor for Voce, but Richardson stole the ball from Connor, who was trying to pass to Rivers, and Miller dunked to cut the Notre Dame lead to 59-58.

The next play, Notre Dame’s seventh turnover in the streak, hurt the Irish as much as Rivers’ charge. After a timeout with 19 seconds remaining, Notre Dame’s Mark Stevenson slipped near midcourt, and while Phelps hollered for a pushing foul, the ball popped back up to Miller.

What would Reggie do? Wrong. First, he passed to Richardson, who gave the ball right back to Miller. Then , Reggie shot. He never hesitated, of course. We’re talking Reggie, and this one was pure Reggie Miller.

“I knew I was going to shoot from three,” he said. “That way, when it went in, we’d lead by two points instead of one.”

Miller, who finished with 26 points in 40 minutes, felt as though he was shooting a 24-foot layup.

“That wasn’t deep for me,” he said. “That was close.”

The charging call on Rivers was also close. Immel said he thought he had position on Rivers but admitted that the call could have gone the other way.

“It was a questionable call, maybe, but that’s the way it goes,” he said.

The foul was Rivers’ fifth, which took him out of the game with 20 points, 7 assists and 10 turnovers in 36 minutes, matched up against Richardson, who had 13 points, 2 assists and 4 turnovers in 37 minutes.

When Montel Hatcher’s breakaway layup dropped through with two seconds to go, the Bruins had escaped another close call. No matter how it was accomplished, Richardson wasn’t particularly concerned with Phelps’ complaints.

“They (the Irish) were falling down, they were dropping the ball, outrunning the ball and throwing bad passes,” Richardson said. “It seems like he is pretty bitter. I think people can lose better than that.”

Bruin Notes

UCLA stayed unbeaten (10-0) at Pauley Pavilion this season and are 320-27 there in 22 years. Coach Walt Hazzard is 38-7 at Pauley. . . . UCLA’s nine-game winning streak is its longest since the 1981-82 season, when the Bruins won 12 straight. . . . Notre Dame has lost three of its last four.