ROLE REVERSALS; DEFLATED UCLA FAILS TO SHAKE IT OFF AT CAL : CAL 85, UCLA 67.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Steve Lavin knew it before anyone else.

His team had no energy. It had no desire. It had no heart.

Desperate, he called a timeout 53 seconds into the game - always an ominous sign for UCLA. But it did no good.

The Bruins rolled over, and Cal stomped.

``We just got our butts kicked, and I wish I could say the other word,'' UCLA guard Baron Davis said after an 85-67 loss to the Bears before a record Pac-10 crowd of 15,676 Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

``They just drove us, took our hearts and stepped on us,'' Davis continued, his voice getting louder, angrier, as he talked. ``They pounded us, and we didn't do nothing but cry. They treated us like some little kids.''

Instead of black uniforms, maybe the Bruins should wear tin warmups and go see the Wizard. Perhaps John Wooden will help them find their hearts.

It was UCLA's worst loss at Cal since 1948, and if not for Davis' masterpiece - a career-high 27 points, nine rebounds and four assists - it would have been much, much worse.

The Bears were tougher, stronger, quicker to the ball and faster in transition. They shot 53 percent from the field in the second half, built a 16-point lead, repelled a brief UCLA rally and administered the final ``whipping,'' as Davis put it.

UCLA (17-7, 8-5) played without freshman forward Jerome Moiso, its third-leading scorer who has lost confidence and conditioning because of tendinitis in his right foot. (``Just walking on it felt bad,'' he said.)

In his absence, the Bruins turned to freshmen center Dan Gadzuric, who handled the ball extensively and committed seven turnovers.

``Today, I was not focused at all, and I suffered the consequences,'' Gadzuric said.

His starting center ineffective, Lavin tried multiple players and combinations. He tried Travis Reed, he tried Matt Barnes, he tried Ray Young and Ryan Bailey - and they did not respond.

Eventually, Lavin settled on seldom-used reserves Brandon Loyd and Sean Farnham, and they joined Davis, Earl Watson and JaRon Rush, who played hard but missed 14 of 17 shots.

Afterward, Lavin announced that Loyd and Farnham will start Wednesday against USC. Walk-on Todd Ramasar, who has played two minutes in Pac-10 games, will be the sixth man.

``We've got to get to the point where we have five guys who played consistently hard,'' Lavin said. ``That's why I'm starting Loyd, Farnham, Rush, Watson and Davis (against USC). Those five played with the greatest effort. Ramasar will be the sixth-man. He has worked hard in practice.

``This shows our lack of maturity. We couldn't come back less than 48 hours (after an emotional loss to Stanford) and play with a high level of intensity. This was as poor as we've played all season, other than Maryland.''

The performance underscored the importance of UCLA's victories at USC and Louisville last month. Despite being swept on a weekend road trip for the first time since 1993 (at the Washington schools), the Bruins have enough wins to absorb a few late-season defeats and qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

If they had departed the Bay Area with 15 wins, for instance, they'd be under enormous pressure during the upcoming homestand against USC, Syracuse, Washington State and Washington.

In fact, with an at-large bid secured and the Pac-10 title probably out of reach - UCLA trails Stanford by three games - Saturday's loss seemingly had only one tangible effect: It probably eliminated UCLA from consideration for a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and relegated the Bruins to a No. 4 or 5 seed.

That said, the difference between a No. 3 and 4 seed is potentially enormous: as a No. 4, the Bruins would face the mighty No. 1s like Duke or Connecticut in the Sweet 16 instead of the Elite Eight.

The NCAA selection committee does not look kindly on 20-point defeats in mid-February, especially to a seventh-place team, and the Bruins know it.

``We didn't respond with the necessary aggression for a game this deep in the season,'' Lavin said.

As he dressed quickly to catch the late-afternoon flight home, Davis' voice boomed throughout the locker room. Two weeks ago, after the technical fouls at Washington, he was frustration incarnate. Saturday, he was just plain mad.

``We laid down and let them walk all over us,'' he said. ``We just didn't bring it. I'm not going to let it happen again, it's not going to happen. It starts in practice. We're going to practice hard. If we lose, we're going to go down fighting.

``I refuse to let someone take our hearts like they did tonight.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) UCLA's Baron Davis tries to get out of the way of Cal's Michael Gill.

(2) UCLA's JaRon Rush reaches in to try to stop Cal's Thomas Kilgore in the first half. Rush (10 points) was one of two Bruins in double figures.

Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press