Bruins Big on Beating New Mexico

Small team, big moment.

The UCLA Bruins, who these days have grown quite accustomed to evaluating things in terms of size, had little trouble measuring the significance of Saturday’s warp-speed 69-58 victory over No. 8 New Mexico.

It was giant. It was huge. Even if it came against a Lobo squad that has never traveled very well, it showed UCLA’s darting defenders can make an All-American big man disappear, and it proved that J.R. Henderson can carry a team in the right situation.

And it had Bruin freshman and senior alike hugging each other when it was over before 14,274 at the Pond, rediscovering for the first time this season what it was like to live large and roar loud.

“It was real big--it was extremely big,” said senior guard Toby Bailey, who scored 18 points and had seven assists. “It was definitely bigger than we let on beforehand, because in the back of our minds, we knew how big it was.

“We knew New Mexico had some big players, so we weren’t too sure about the matchups. We were saying a loss wouldn’t break our backs. But we always knew how big this game could be for us.”

With Kris Johnson due back for games as soon as Saturday’s home opener against Cal State Fullerton, and center Jelani McCoy probably back a few games later, suddenly, UCLA, riding a three-game winning streak despite its short-handed situation, is striding again.

The victory extended 15th-ranked UCLA’s 3-0 record in Wooden Classic competition, and, coming nine days after the Bruins’ humiliating 41-point loss to North Carolina, wiped away any potential crisis of confidence.

Crisis? Not for a defense, led by freshman guards Baron Davis and Earl Watson, that harried New Mexico into 23 turnovers and kept star center Kenny Thomas (no points in the first half, only eight overall) away from the ball and at times seemingly wandering in a daze.

“Earl and I, we tried to come out and apply the pressure,” said Davis of the shakiness of the Lobo backcourt. “I don’t think their guards have faced that kind of pressure before.

“They did a good job early of handling it, but I think at some point that kind of pressure is going to get to you, and it did.”

The 6-foot Watson added a game-high nine rebounds, five steals and two blocked shots in 36 minutes, and Davis had six rebounds, as UCLA outrebounded New Mexico, 35-26.

“He can fill it up, too, but he’s at his best when he’s stealing the ball and just all over the court causing havoc,” Bailey said of Watson.

“Our little players really swarmed like bees on honey,” UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said.

Crisis? Not when seniors Henderson, who scored a game-high 24 points, and Bailey both play the entire game, attacking on offense at will and creating the lanes for freshman Travis Reed to add 14 points of his own, all on layups and dunks.

Reed became the first Bruin other than Davis, Bailey or Henderson to score in double figures this season.

“That’s the way Travis played all summer in our pickup games against the pros,” Davis said. “I think when the season started, he got kind of in awe of being in college basketball and he was a little tentative.

“But now he’s doing exactly what we know he can do: Go up strong and finish with dunks.”

Though the 3-1 Bruins came out bumping and crashing from the opening tip, New Mexico (5-1) actually jumped to an early 17-6 lead with some hot shooting--and triggered by a wave of early UCLA turnovers.

But, with Thomas obviously struggling--yelling to the bench at one point, “They’re not giving me the . . . ball!”--and Henderson surging, the Bruins came right back to tie the score, 19-19, with nine minutes left in the first half.

After the Lobos went up, 28-21, UCLA sprinted out on a 13-2 run to finish the half with a 34-30 lead.

In what the other Bruin players called a “personal battle,” Henderson outscored Thomas, 11-0, in the first 20 minutes and finished with his strongest effort of the season.

“We knew that everything for them goes through Thomas,” Davis said. “So if we keep him away from the ball, that would throw them completely off rhythm.”

By the first few minutes of the second half, it was clear that the Lobo guards--especially David Gibson and Royce Olney--were wearing down and wobbling out of control. They combined to commit eight turnovers, and made only four baskets in 17 tries.

“At halftime, I wanted to check the ball for air pressure,” New Mexico Coach Dave Bliss said. “It seemed like we were losing control of it . . . . That was by far and away the worst basketball we’ve played.”