UCLA Bears Down

By Steve Springer

March 17, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO — With just over six minutes to play in the first half of the NCAA tournament first-round game between UCLA and Belmont on Thursday afternoon, the Bruins were in front by six points and their opponents were jittery and overly excited about being in the event.

That’s to be expected of a newcomer to this tournament such as the Belmont Bruins. Only it wasn’t 15th-seeded Belmont that was behind. Playing as if they had been there before, even though they never had, the Belmont Bruins were making their shots and maintaining their poise in the glare of the national spotlight shining on Cox Arena on the campus of San Diego State.

It was the second-seeded UCLA Bruins, in the school’s 40th appearance in the tournament, who looked flat and unsteady.

Belmont Coach Rick Byrd might want to permanently pause the tape of the game at that point or simply erase what followed.

It was a blur to Belmont as UCLA re-energized, refocused, reloaded and returned to its recent dominant form, using a 13-0 run to take the lead and ultimately soar to a 78-44 victory and a Saturday game against Alabama, which beat Marquette.

It was the UCLA squad Belmont had expected to see all along, the squad that is 28-6 and has won eight consecutive games, enabling UCLA to clinch the Pacific 10 Conference title and hold all three opponents in the conference tournament below 60 points.

And UCLA’s Bruins were at it again Thursday, holding a team that came in shooting 50% from the floor, fourth-best in the nation, to 28.8%, limiting a team that came in shooting 38.2% from three-point range to 21.1%, holding a team that came in averaging 81.8 points to little more than half of that.

When it was finally over, Byrd was in awe.

“It’s as good a defense as we have ever played against,” he said.

“At the time when were up 18-12,” senior guard Brian Collins said, “I kept saying that we should make our run. We couldn’t get a shot in the basket.”

That has become a common complaint against a Bruin team that came in holding opponents to an average of 59.1 points.

The victory was UCLA’s first in the NCAA tournament in four years. The 34-point margin of victory was the Bruins’ biggest of the season and the highest since UCLA beat Maryland, 105-70, in a second-round game in 2000.

In shooting 53.6%, UCLA was led by freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who had a game-high and career-high 17 points, a game-high eight rebounds and a career-high six assists.

“I just got off to a great start,” Mbah a Moute said, “my teammates got me the ball and I got it rolling.”

Mbah a Moute was also aware that the game might be seen in his native Cameroon, which would allow his parents to see him play for the first time.

Another freshman who played a key role was guard Darren Collison. It was after his insertion into the game that UCLA began its 13-0 run, during which Collison scored six points.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland insists he’s not surprised his first-year players are responding so well.

“These are freshmen who have played hundreds of minutes,” Howland said. “They are not freshmen anymore.”

Collison, however, admitted he had the type of thoughts that run through a freshman’s head.

“I was thinking, ‘Yeah, I’m actually here after watching this tournament as a kid,’ ” Collison said, “but that was before the game.”

“We are really young,” sophomore Jordan Farmar said. “It was the first or second time here for most of us. It was real exciting and we were a little jittery.”

Belmont’s offensive leader, sophomore guard Justin Hare, who came in averaging 15.9 points and was coming off a 32-point effort in leading Belmont (20-11) to the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament championship, was held to eight points, making two of eight from the floor.

UCLA dominated on the boards, outrebounding Belmont, 45-27. Three Bruins, Arron Afflalo, Mbah a Moute and Collison, had three steals.

As Belmont’s players ended their postgame news conference, Collins, standing up, inadvertently spilled a cup of water.

Said Byrd, shaking his head, “Another turnover.”

At least he’ll always have that 18-12 lead.