Card faces fellow rebuilder UCLA

If Wednesday night’s games were any indication of what is to come, Saturday afternoon’s contest between UCLA and Stanford could be a game for the ages.

Stanford squeezed by a deflated USC team on Wednesday, winning 54-53 after sophomore point guard Jarrett Mann sank one of two free throws with just 10.6 seconds left on the clock.

“It was very important,” head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the victory. “It was a tough loss for us at Cal. It’s nice to win it on the final possession. We’ve had some tough ones.”

UCLA won by one point also, but in an even more thrilling manner: senior Michael Roll sank a mid-range jumper with just 1.9 seconds remaining on the clock after the ball was fortuitously deflected by a Cal defender, right into the guard’s hands. Roll’s shot gave the Bruins a 76-75 victory over the Golden Bears, the preseason favorite to win the conference.

“I just turned and shot it,” Roll said to the Los Angeles Times after the game. “And it went in.”

Both the Bruins (7-8, 2-1 Pac-10) and Cardinal (7-7, 1-1 Pac-10) appear to be having down years, especially UCLA. After three Final Four appearances in the last five years, head coach Ben Howland’s team is likely going to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. But both teams clearly have some solid basketball left in them, and Saturday’s game will be an important one for two teams fighting to stay in the upper half of the conference this season.

The outcome of the game will probably be determined by how the guards match up. Like Stanford, UCLA’s post game is not its strength — the team was dealt a significant blow to an already meager front line when then-leading rebounder Drew Gordon decided to leave the program. Gritty Bruins freshman Reeves Nelson has stepped in and done yeoman’s work in his absence since then, though, reaching double digits in points and being a force on the boards in his last seven games.

As said before though, the match-up between each team’s guards will likely decide the game. Mann will have the task of facing Bruins point guard Malcolm Lee, who leads the team with 14.1 points and 3.9 assists per game. Sophomore Jeremy Green, the Cardinal’s strongest perimeter threat, will have the task of guarding Roll. Green is more athletic and a bit stronger than the veteran Roll, so he may have the advantage in that match-up.

Both teams have been inconsistent this season, though the Bruins have shown a bit more life in recent weeks. UCLA has won four of its last five games, although that stretch of games is sandwiched by a dispiriting 77-63 loss last weekend to Arizona.

Although UCLA seems to have come together a bit more in the recent weeks, the Bruins and Cardinal seem to be two teams that have a lot in common. Both have consistently stayed near the top of the Pac-10 for the last two decades, and both seem to be in rebuilding years of sorts. Even further, Stanford and UCLA experienced similar off-the-court problems, though the Bruins’ Nikola Dragovic’s legal issues stemming from a fight at a concert are much more substantial than the dropped allegations against Green.

Games against what some call “swing opponents” are often the most important, as they can go a long way in determining a team’s standing at the end of the year. Aside from being a battle of two programs trying to reclaim their past success, Saturday’s game may make the difference between a third seed or sixth seed during the all-important Pac-10 Tournament come March.

It’s UCLA and Stanford. And while the stakes are a bit lower than usual, Saturday’s game is not one to miss. Tipoff is at 3 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.