UCLA’s MacLean Has Become Talk of Pac-10 : Though Bruin Freshman’s Play Has Been Impressive, His Words Haven’t Been

The Pacific 10 Conference is talking about Don MacLean, a freshman forward who leads the UCLA basketball team in scoring and rebounding.

Some of the talk concerns his talking.

“He’s good, but he talks too much for a freshman,” Stanford’s Eric Reveno told the San Francisco Examiner last month after UCLA had beaten the Cardinal, 74-70, at Pauley Pavilion. “He said some things I’ve never heard on a court before. I just smiled.”

And Reveno’s teammate, Andrew Vlahov, told the Examiner: “He’s going to get his block knocked off.”

UCLA, which is 10-4 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-10, has a rematch with the Cardinal, which is 13-4 and 5-2, today in sold-out Maples Pavilion.

Is MacLean worried?

Not exactly.

“First of all, Reveno is the one who started talking to me and wanted to start something,” Mac- Lean said. “If he’s going to start, I’m not going to back down to anybody. I don’t care what year he is.

“I don’t think Eric Reveno has any right to tell me what to do, especially when he’s probably not as good a player as I am.”

What started all this was a run-in last month after MacLean had fouled Reveno near the end of the first half.

Thinking MacLean had been overly aggressive, Reveno glared at him.

“I wondered what the deal was, and he blew up at me,” Reveno said this week. “He jumped in my face. He probably wanted to show that he wasn’t going to be intimidated, which I respect.

“(But) he said something like, ‘I’ll kill you. Hit me and I’ll kill you.’ That’s a little strong for talk on a basketball court.”

As Reveno made his way to the free-throw line, he said, he was approached by MacLean’s teammate, Pooh Richardson.

Said Reveno: “He was trying to be a mediator, sort of, and I said, ‘God, does he always talk so much?’ And Pooh kind of smiled and said, ‘Yes.’ ”

What does he say?

“It’s nothing you can print,” Vlahov said.

Perhaps some teams are trying to rattle MacLean, who had 26 points and 12 rebounds against Stanford and is averaging 20.8 points and 8.4 rebounds a game?

“He might feel like he gets picked on,” Reveno said. “But ask Sean Elliott (of Arizona) if he gets a little special attention. Ask Sean Elliott if he thinks we fouled him a lot. It’s a compliment is what it is.

“My advice to (MacLean) would be to keep his mouth shut and let his playing do the talking and he’ll do very well.”

MacLean was told the same thing recently by UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, who advised the filibustering freshman to curtail the woofing after MacLean had exchanged words two weeks ago with Oregon State’s Gary Payton.

“I don’t want him talking,” Harrick said. “I want him playing.”

MacLean, though, said that he can’t help himself.

“It gets you fired up, especially when other guys start talking to you,” he said. “It keeps me intense. It’s not something I make a point of, but it just kind of happens.”

Reveno calls it unbecoming a player of such stature.

“If he was a scrappy player and that was part of his game, that would be fine,” said Reveno, the Cardinal’s senior center. “But he’s a talented guy. He doesn’t need to do that stuff.”

Added Vlahov: “You’d think he’d have a little more class. He’s an excellent player, so it was kind of unexpected.”

If there is to be an attempt to put the freshman in his place, though, don’t expect it today, Vlahov said.

As for another day . . .

“I don’t think he means any harm by it,” Vlahov said. “I think it’s just part of his game and the way he motivates himself. It doesn’t really affect me. I think it’s kind of stupid. But some players really take offense at that sort of thing and might retaliate against him.

“If you annoy somebody that’s 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds, he might not take it as lightly . . . (and) your time will come.”

Bruin Notes

Stanford, which hasn’t beaten UCLA in Los Angeles since 1952, outscored the Bruins in 2 overtimes last season at Stanford, 116-110. . . . Stanford is 7-0 at Maples Pavilion this season and is averaging 7,388 fans a game in the 7,500-seat facility. Today’s game has been sold out for a month.

California ended Stanford’s 8-game winning streak Thursday night, overcoming a 10-point first-half deficit and outscoring the Cardinal, 49-32, in the second half of a 75-64 victory at Berkeley. . . . Todd Lichti, Stanford’s leading scorer with a 20.9 average, has made 36 consecutive free throws, a school record and 4 shy of the Pac-10 record set by John Greig of Oregon in the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons. Joe Dykstra of Western Illinois set an National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record when he made 64 straight in the 1981-82 season.

UCLA has lost 3 of its last 5 road games. . . . Keith Owens pulled down a season-high 8 rebounds Thursday night in UCLA’s 94-84 win over Arizona State.