UCLA Can’t Stop Arizona Big Three

TUCSON —  They raised a banner, then raced rings around UCLA.

With Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson and especially Miles Simon sprinting downcourt at turbo-speed and flipping in jumpers from all angles, the Arizona Wildcats chased the Bruins into submission, and finally erased the UCLA jinx here Saturday night.

Despite rousing performances by Kris Johnson and Jelani McCoy, Arizona pulled away with an emphatic 87-75 victory before 14,551 at McKale Center on the night the Wildcats raised their 1997 national-title banner to the rafters.

Despite the title, No. 8 Arizona--which had lost its last three games to UCLA, five of the last six, and watched the Bruins win the last three Pacific 10 championships--played like a defending national champion with still something left to prove.

“The Pac-10 title’s been going through them,” said Simon, who scored 27 points in the conference opener. “Now, we’ve got a leg up. I love playing UCLA.”

The Bruins, meanwhile, had to battle past J.R. Henderson’s first off night (three points, his lowest total in more than a year) and a scattered shooting night from Toby Bailey (seven for 16, six turnovers).

No. 9 UCLA, which lost for the first time since the opening game of the season against North Carolina, chose to accept the defeat as a rite of passage, as the team adjusts to the return of Johnson and McCoy.

“We know it’s a long season,” Bailey said. “As long as we bounce back quickly, we still can win the Pac-10. What’s most important is to be there in March.

“We were right in this game for most of this game, with their great crowd and all that emotion they were playing with.

” I don’t think I played real well and everyone knows J.R. didn’t play the kind of game he can.”

Said McCoy, who didn’t start but played 29 minutes: “It’s the first game in the Pac-10, it’s not life and death. We just got beat.”

Johnson, in his most electric outing in years, scored 28 points, and McCoy, in his second game back from suspension, scored 16 and had 13 rebounds.

“They carried us for most of the game,” Bailey said.

Henderson, the conference’s leading scorer and rebounder, picked up his second foul with 13:29 left in the first half, and rode the bench of the rest of the way. He never seemed to find his rhythm from there, and fouled out late in the second half.

“They were doubling and tripling me all the time, and I just threw it out every time like I’m supposed to,” Henderson said. “Guess that’s what we should expect.

“It’s just my average. When you’re averaging that, teams are automatically going to try to stop you. And on this team, I really shouldn’t be averaging 20 points, that’s not realistic.

“And now that we have the guys back, we shouldn’t just throw it inside and wait, we should be moving it around.”

Bailey joined Henderson later in the half with foul trouble of his own, so it was up to Johnson and McCoy to produce the offense, which they did.

From the moment Dickerson made a jumper to give the Wildcats (10-3) a 21-13 lead with 10:21 left in the half, Johnson and McCoy by themselves outscored Arizona’s whole team, 21-17.

Meanwhile, Arizona, which had center A.J. Bramlett in foul trouble, was struggling with its accuracy, making only 11 of its 33 first-half shot attempts.

Simon (14 points) and Bibby (10 points) held the Wildcats together during the Bruin run, but UCLA still outscored Arizona, 28-17, in the last 10 minutes of the half, to grab a 41-38 halftime lead.

“The first half was the best half of basketball I think we’ve played,” UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said. “But Arizona just dominated us in the second half.”

Simon and the Wildcats came charging out in the first minutes of the second half in a 13-4 run, led by Simon’s seven points, to give the Wildcats a 51-45 lead that the Bruins chipped at for the rest of the game.

Though Johnson kept up his free-wheeling attack, UCLA was hampered by more foul trouble--this time to freshman point guard Baron Davis. He picked up his fourth with 13:25 left, was replaced, came back in, and fouled out with 3:26 left and the Bruins trailing, 72-65.

With the Bruins reeling and fouling, Bibby went to the line 10 times, making nine; Simon made eight of eight, and Dickerson was six for 10.

Bibby ended up with 20 points, while Dickerson had 24. The three combined for 71 of Arizona’s 84 points.

“We just have to be more aggressive,” said Davis, who had six points and six assists in his much-anticipated matchup with Bibby. “Mike Bibby led his team in the second half, and I didn’t.”

Now the Bruins must focus on beating Arizona State on Monday.

“We have to remember that this is just one half of the trip,” Henderson said. “Arizona State is the other half, and we have to take care of that one.”