Team Finally Faces a Test

Not merely getting a game, for a change, UCLA gets some tests.

In place of Fairfield, Iona and Morgan State--and the jabs from Dick Vitale about a cupcake schedule, baby!--comes No. 24 Gonzaga today and No. 20 DePaul next Saturday and the chance for the 3-0 Bruins to get a real game for the first time.

“We’re very anxious,” forward Sean Farnham said, not referring to this being their first game in 10 days. “We’re excited for the opportunity to play against a team that has more credibility than the teams we have played already.

“I think it’s an early barometer, an early test of where we’re at as a team. After that, we’ll be able to get a better feel for where we’re at.”

It comes nearly three weeks into the season, and after three victories in which UCLA outscored the competition by an average of 93.7-56.3, outshot the three teams, 53.9%-38.6%, and capitalized on the opponent’s inexperience against quality teams by forcing 88 turnovers. That changes now.

Gonzaga, on the last leg of a three-game stretch that started on the road against Cincinnati and Temple, has three starters back from the 1998-99 team that reached the round of eight before losing to eventual champion Connecticut. After a week off for the final exams, the Bruins then get DePaul, which recently barely lost at Duke and has a star in Quentin Richardson.

“It’s one of those situations when you play high-level competition like Gonzaga and the team we’ll play next week, DePaul, it gives you a barometer,” Bruin Coach Steve Lavin said.

“You can sense in practice [this week] that we’re looking forward to the matchup and looking forward to getting into the meat of our schedule this month.”