UCLA
Louisville
Davis Leads No. 13 Bruins to Victory
June 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
January 23, 1999
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Denny Crum didn't like the effort and certainly didn't like the result.
And now, after entering the rankings at No. 24 on Monday, Louisville has lost two straight at home.
"I wish I could tell you exactly what the problem is," Crum said Saturday after an 82-70 loss to No. 13 UCLA (14-4). "Even with a lead at halftime, we played poorly."
Less than 36 hours after falling 81-55 to No. 3 Cincinnati, Louisville (10-5) was sluggish and unproductive in a game between two of college basketball's most storied teams.
"We've not passed the ball well," Crum said. "We've not worked hard. We've not screened anybody and we haven't rebounded. We just haven't come out with the intensity and enthusiasm we should have."
UCLA's Baron Davis scored 15 of his 25 points and Louisville committed 16 of its season-high 27 turnovers in the second half.
"I think we're getting kind of like we were last year," Louisville center Alex Sanders said, referring to his team's 12-20 season of a year ago. "We're coming into games playing not to lose instead of to win."
Earl Watson had 18 points, Jerome Moiso 17 and Ray Young 10 as UCLA won for the 12th time in its last 14 games.
Cameron Murray and Nate Johnson each scored 20 points for Louisville. Sanders added 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
The teams combined for 47 turnovers and 40 foul shots in a game that was not pretty from the opening moments.
Trailing 17-11, Louisville scored nine straight points in less than a minute to force a UCLA timeout with 8:47 to play. The Cardinals built the lead to 34-26 with 1:45 left and led 38-31 at halftime.
Each team had 11 first-half turnovers but Louisville was able to score 16 points off the Bruins' mistakes. UCLA shot 30 percent in the half.
The Bruins opened the second half with a 6-0 run and soon after used an 11-2 run - punctuated by consecutive dunks off turnovers by Davis, Moiso and Watson - to go up 53-44 with 12:52 remaining.
"At halftime, we challenged the whole team," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "We agreed if we were going to go down, we were going to go down fighting.
"Our defense really turned the game around in the second half. We were quick to the ball and quick in transition. We really showed perimeter quickness in the second half."
The Cardinals closed within six at the 10-minute mark but came no closer.
"I'm angry and I'm embarrassed," said Louisville forward Tony Williams, who missed all six of his shots from the field and both his free throws. "We should have beaten this team all day long. We just didn't play them. It seemed like our spirit was broken."
The Bruins committed only eight turnovers and shot 67 percent in the second half - most of their shots came on layups and dunks - to improve to 48 percent shooting for the game.
Davis was 7 of 8 from the field, including his only 3-point attempt, and 10 of 15 from the line as the Bruins won their second straight in this series.
