Trip to Arizona Gives Bruins a Sweeping View : College basketball: Freshmen help UCLA break Arizona State press in 85-72 victory to complete what Olson said couldn’t be done.

Faster, deeper, stronger, better. . . . The UCLA Bruins, exhausted but excited, flew home Saturday night, with a trail of glittering compliments still sounding in their wake.

Dazzling, daring, blistering, shocking. . . . For the first time in years, the bouquets were tossed at the Bruins’ feet, and nobody could muster a cynical mumble of “Yeah, but. . . .”

Not in the face of UCLA’s most meaningful two-game sweep since, well, who knows how long?

Putting an emphatic finish to an improbable sweep, the Bruins out-flashed and out-dashed the Arizona State Sun Devils Saturday afternoon, 85-72, before 14,287 at the University Activities Center.

After it was over, when freshmen Toby Bailey and J.R. Henderson and sophomore Charles O’Bannon were through throwing down slams and stepping into passing lanes, the witnesses stepped up to be heard.

Versatile, hungry . . . national championship favorites ?

“That is the best UCLA team I’ve played,” said Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder, who has been in Tempe since 1989. “That team is better than any team I have ever coached, because they’re solid at every position. And they’re extremely deep.

“They’re better than my team that won a national championship (with Michigan, in 1988-89, Frieder’s last season there, when Steve Fisher took over for the NCAA tournament).

“They shoot the ball better, and they can go bigger and smaller easier. They’re a team that’s going to be there when it’s over, because they’re on a mission and they know they’re that good. And what they did this week is proof of that.”

What No. 4 UCLA, 11-1 and 5-1 in the Pacific 10, did this week was topple No. 11 Arizona, which had been 112-3 at home heading into Thursday’s 10-point defeat, then keep the pedal down against the athletic and 13th-ranked Sun Devils, who were 5-0 against ranked teams before Saturday.

The Sun Devils, who lost their 12th game in a row to the Bruins, fell to 13-4, 3-2.

And Bruin Coach Jim Harrick, who had called this the toughest trip of his coaching life, remembered that not long ago, somebody hadn’t given UCLA a chance of sweeping in Arizona.

“Lute (Olson, Arizona coach) said it couldn’t be done,” Harrick said.

But neither Harrick nor his players allowed themselves to conjure March dreams yet, even though the Arizona sweep gives the Bruins a huge leg up on everybody else in the conference.

“We had a good weekend--that’s it,” forward Charles O’Bannon said. “It lets us know we can play with anybody, anywhere. But our goals are still there, and we haven’t accomplished them.”

Said guard Cameron Dollar: “I would say we’re in the driver’s seat, but it’s not a comfortable seat. We’ve got maybe the second-best team in the conference at home next (Stanford on Thursday), so we’re not comfortable.”

UCLA, which beat Arizona on Thursday with a big lineup that kept Wildcat guard Damon Stoudamire off-balance, found itself a step slow against Arizona State’s quickness early. So Harrick switched to a smaller lineup with eight minutes remaining in the first half.

With 6-foot-9 Ed O’Bannon moved to center to defend Arizona State’s Mario Bennett, Charles O’Bannon and Henderson at the forward spots, and Bailey, Tyus Edney and Dollar rotating at guard, the Bruins swarmed the ball on defense and attacked the rim viciously against the Sun Devil press.

Bennett, who scored seven points against Bruin centers George Zidek and Ike Nwankwo to help Arizona State to a 28-17 lead, did not score again in the half with Ed O’Bannon (who had five steals) fronting him furiously.

Getting turnovers, and with Bailey, who played a career-high 35 minutes, finishing them with dunks, UCLA immediately went on an 11-0 run to tie the score 28-28, with 5:10 left in the half.

At halftime, it was 42-42, but the Bruins opened the second on a 20-5 sprint--triggered by several steals and finishes by Charles O’Bannon and Bailey (who each had a game-high 19 points), and Henderson (who had 12 points and eight rebounds after a scoreless night in Tucson).

The Sun Devils helped things out by missing 12 of their 19 free throws in the second half (Bennett, who scored 14 points, was only five of 14 from the line), and UCLA kept Arizona State from making a three-pointer the entire half.

“We can go small vs. small, we can go big vs. big, we can go quick vs. quick,” Dollar said. “Whatever we need to do, with our depth, with J.R. and Toby so versatile, we can do, whenever we need to do it.”

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Bruin Notes

In a freak locker room accident, freshman center omm’A Givens was hit on the head by a falling steel girder after the game and needed four stitches. Center Ike Nwankwo, who was the one who inadvertently knocked the girder down, needed five stitches after splitting his upper lip in the first half.