A daunting task
| Thursday, Nov 19 2009 11:43 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 19 2009 11:43 PM
CSUB at UCLA
When Today, 7:30 p.m. Where UCLA's Pauley Pavilion Records CSUB 1-1, UCLA 0-1 Radio 1180 AM TV Fox Sports West Series First meeting Notes Senior guard Michael Roll had 17 points for UCLA in Cal State Fullerton's double-OT win over the Bruins Monday. ... The game will be regionally televised on Fox Sports West. That's channel 24 on Brighthouse Cable (channel 100 on Brighthouse digital), channel 692 on DirecTV and channel 417 on Dish Network.
UCLA. Arguably the most storied program in college basketball's history.
And Cal State Bakersfield is facing the Bruins tonight in Pauley Pavilion.
When CSUB announced it was moving from NCAA Division II to Division I, one of the first questions Roadrunner fans asked was would CSUB ever get to play UCLA in men's basketball.
Certainly tonight's 7:30 game has the players and coaches excited. Many of CSUB's players grew up in Southern California.
"We're just going to go in there and play," said CSUB senior forward Trent Blakley, who's from Alta Loma High School in the L.A. area. "We can't look at UCLA and be intimidated. 'Oh, this is UCLA.' We've got to treat them like another team."
That can be daunting, given UCLA has an NCAA-record 11 national championships and a who's who list of Hall of Famers such as John Wooden, Lew Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton.
CSUB coach Keith Brown said there was very little talk from his players and coaches about UCLA until after Tuesday's victory over Utah Valley. But the Bruins were on everyone's mind.
Brown and his players admitted they watched UCLA's home season opener on TV Monday night, when the Bruins were stunned 68-65 in double overtime by Cal State Fullerton -- a loss that snapped a 37-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents.
"I told people today I didn't watch the game," Brown said after Tuesday's win against Utah Valley. "I lied. I did watch it."
Blakley said he used the televised game as a scouting tool.
"I notice they close out on shooters pretty quick," said Blakley, who is one of CSUB's top outside scoring threats. "They like to block shots and will go for pump fakes. We have to take advantage of that."
CSUB's best player at pump fakes is senior forward Santwon Latunde, who draws a lot of defenders with his inside presence.
"This is the experience of a lifetime. It's what we all dream about," said Latunde, who's from Maryland.
"You will be star-struck," Latunde added. "You'll walk in there and look around, oohing and aahing.
"But it will hit you at game time that you have a job to do. But we are definitely going to enjoy the experience."
CSUB junior guard Donavan Bragg grew up in Inglewood.
"This is a business trip," Bragg said. "We'll go in there, look around and enjoy it while we can. But the coaches will do their job to calm us down."
UCLA has a young team and its young backcourt struggled at times against Fullerton and suffered through a cold shooting night. But Bragg isn't putting much stock in that.
"UCLA is used to shooting well," Bragg said. "You're not going to go in there and expect them not to shoot. That'll be our downfall."
Brown said he expects the UCLA loss to motivate the Bruins even more.
"Their players are going to want to respond," Brown said. "With the type of players they are and the type of program they have, that's what their players will do."
Brown said UCLA plays solid defense and has tall, athletic players. But the aura of the Bruin program is going to be there.
"We're not going to back down," Brown said. "Hopefully we'll get beyond the jitters and put together a game plan, execute it and have a great basketball experience."
Said Latunde: "They put their pants on just like we do. I'm going to walk in there and respect them as men and I want them to respect us as men.
"We're going to go hard. We're just going to go in and play basketball and let the game speak for itself."
