Wilson Gets Angry, So UCLA Isn’t Upset : Bruin Forward Keys Team Past Washington St. After Temper Outburst

PULLMAN, Wash. —  Washington State Coach Kelvin Sampson liked what he was seeing in the opening minutes of Saturday’s game against UCLA. His Cougars were slowing the tempo, following his game plan for stripping the ball away from UCLA’s front-line players, and taking UCLA out of its offense.

His Cougars even had a seven-point lead, much to the delight of the 5,475 fans at Friel Court.

But Sampson was not pleased to see the frustration on the face of UCLA star forward Trevor Wilson when Charles Rochelin came in to relieve him less than seven minutes into the game. At that point Wilson had one rebound, no points and four turnovers. An eventual 62-55 Bruin victory seemed far away.

Wilson was standing in front of Sampson when he snarled at Rochelin: “No! I’m not going out.”

Wilson did, eventually, leave the court. He stalked past UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard without a word and took a seat at the far end of the bench, fuming and talking to himself.

“I could see his frustration,” Sampson said. “All that does is is make him more dangerous. Like a wounded wolf, when it gets hit, it doesn’t run and hide, it turns to fight.

“That kid is too good a player to be taken out of his game. He’s going to play in the NBA. . . . The good players are going to come through at the end, the way he did.”

Wilson finished with 6 turnovers, just 1 in the second half, offset by an assist, a blocked shot, 10 rebounds and 13 points. And he scored the points at the end, on two quick baskets, beating the defense to his end of the court, and one in which he snaked through the crowded lane for a layin while the shot clock was into single digits.

And he did all that while playing with four fouls. He picked up his fourth with 4:39 to play. “Trevor Wilson is an All-Pac-10 player,” Sampson said. “If he’s not, there’s something wrong.

“Trevor Wilson is an animal. He plays like a man possessed. I felt like he was the difference down the stretch. Every time they needed a big basket, that boy got it. The difference in the ballgame, if you ask me, was Trevor Wilson.”

Hazzard, too, was not surprised to see Wilson come through with more power than pout down the stretch.

Said Hazzard: “He’s a great athlete and he likes to compete. His blood is hot and he has a temper. But he’s gotten a lot better. He’s working on it. All he wants to do is play basketball. . . . He settled down.”

When the game was on the line, Wilson came through. So did Bruin point guard Pooh Richardson, whose steal with a minute to play took valuable time away from the Cougars, who were trying to make up a five-point deficit.

Washington State did, eventually, score to narrow the gap to three points. But that was with 23 seconds left, and the Cougars were forced into fouling at the end.

Bruin guard Dave Immel made the clutch free throws to keep the Bruin lead safe.

The regulars came through at the end, but it was center Kelvin Butler who had kept the Bruins in the game against a Cougar team that Sampson says will “scratch and claw and play hard.” While the Cougar zone was keeping most of the Bruins at bay, Butler was working inside the way he has the last several games.

Butler led the Bruins with 22 points, getting most of his points early. When the Bruins first tied the score, 33-33, it was on a rebound shot by Butler. At that point, Butler had 20 of the Bruins’ 33 points.

Said Hazzard: “Butler is open in there. He’s asserting himself. He’s tough inside. He has a good move--he’s left-handed. And he has a tremendous touch. If he gets it on the rim, eight out of nine times it’s going to go down on one of those bounces.

“I think his teammates are looking to him. We have a lot of confidence in him.”

For Butler, it was his fourth straight career-best scoring game. This success is coming, though, at the end of his career. He’s a senior who had thought of quitting earlier in a disappointing UCLA career. Smiling from ear to ear Saturday, Butler said: “It took awhile, but this is worth it now. I’m getting a chance to play, and that is enough to make me happy.

“I’m getting the points because the guys are looking to me a lot. We have a lot of players on this team that can score 10, 12, 14 points a game. Different guys come out at different times.

“But I do realize how lucky I am to be in this position. I’m the starting center at UCLA. A lot of people have said to me that I’m where a lot of players dream of being. I’m playing the same position as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I’ve thought about that.

“I have to consider myself lucky.”

UCLA worked its way over the .500 mark, improving to 14-13. The Bruins are tied for third in the Pac-10 with Stanford, at 10-6, and UCLA’s next game is Thursday against Stanford at Pauley Pavilion.

Arizona has clinched the Pac-10 title and Oregon State, which has beaten the Bruins twice, is in second at 11-5.

Washington State’s record dropped to 11-14 overall, 6-10 in the conference.

Washington State was hurt, Saturday, by the fact that both center Todd Anderson and forward Neil Evans had three fouls before halftime. Evans ended up leading the team with 14 points and 5 rebounds. And Anderson had 10 points. But Sampson had to leave both of them on the bench more than he had wanted to, and he thought that they played more tentatively in the second half.

Said Sampson: “You can say what you want about the way we played, but I was really impressed with the way UCLA played down the stretch.”

Bruin Notes

Freshman guard Gerald Madkins did not miss a shot in his two games against Washington State. He was 6 for 6 against the Cougars at Pauley Pavilion, including 2 for 2 from three-point range. He was 3 for 3 Saturday, including 2 for 2 from three-point range. . . . Bruin center Kelvin Butler has scored 77 points in his last four games, averaging 19.3 points. . . . UCLA has won 10 of its last 13 games, losing at Oregon State, at Arizona and again to Arizona in overtime at Pauley Pavilion. . . . UCLA forward Trevor Wilson led the team in rebounds for the fifth straight time with 10. . . . Saturday’s win completed UCLA’s first 4-0 sweep of the Washington schools since 1981.