WEST: DRIVING MISS CRAZY KNIGHT'S PLAY, UCLA DEFENSE KEYS TO THUMPING OF OLE MISS UCLA 80, OLE MISS 68.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH - Anyone figuring they could figure out the UCLA basketball team, try figuring this: Jason Kapono scores a career-low two points; Rico Hines makes his first 3-pointer in two years; Billy Knight finds his shooting stroke three time zones away; Matt Barnes, Dan Gadzuric and Kapono combine for one more point than freshman Dijon Thompson.

And then figure this: The eighth-seeded Bruins, after limping into the NCAA Tournament with a pair of losses and two months of mostly lackluster basketball, roll to an 80-58 victory Friday over ninth-seeded Mississippi in a first-round West Regional game before 17,015 at Mellon Arena.

Go figure, indeed.

The victory, the margin of which equaled UCLA's largest of the season, will send the Bruins (20-11) into the second round Sunday at 9:10 a.m. against top-seeded Cincinnati.

And suddenly, after 40 minutes of some of their best basketball of the season, the discouraged Bruins, who had lost two in a row and nine of their last 17, are feeling loaded for Bear(cats).

``We know we've got our hands full, but they've got their hands full, too,'' Barnes said of Cincinnati, which early Friday dismantled 16th-seeded Boston University 90-52. ``We think we're the team in the tournament that nobody wants to play. We've got some momentum and the whole season we've gotten up for good teams. It's going to be a big-time showdown on Sunday.''

UCLA, which figured to need a dominant game from center Gadzuric and steady play from point guard Cedric Bozeman, got neither. And it hardly mattered.

Led by Knight's 21 points, a huge boost from its bench, a dusted-off press and an unusually active zone defense, the Bruins made Ole Miss (20-11) look like an NIT team.

``People talk about a team being hot going into the tournament, but that doesn't matter,'' Knight said. ``It's what you do when you get there.''

The big difference was Knight. He hit five 3-pointers, which along with his point total, were the most he's had since the Bruins' trip to Arizona in mid-January.

Knight turned a competitive game into a blowout with a flurry of 3- pointers before and after halftime. After Ole Miss, behind a string of 3-pointers from Allen Harper, trimmed a 15-point deficit to three at 29-26, Knight's follow shot of an airball by Gadzuric boosted the lead to five.

Then, he swished a step-back 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to put the Bruins ahead 36-26. He finished off the Rebels early in the second half when he hit three consecutive 3-pointers. When Barnes scored in the lane with 15:53 to play, it completed a 20-0 run and put UCLA ahead 49-26.

Yet, other than Knight, the Bruins got little from their starters. UCLA got 42 points off its bench, including a career-high 16 points from Thompson and a season-high seven points by Hines, who made his first 3-pointer of the season in 12 attempts.

``Yeah, it was crazy,'' said Barnes, who combined with Kapono for eight points. ``When the leading scorers have six and two points and you win by 25.

``The reserves picked us up. The dropoff was with the starters.''

The reserves did more than score. When senior Hines, sophomore T.J. Cummings, and freshmen Andre Patterson, Ryan Walcott and Thompson were in the game together, the Bruins were transformed into a pressing, trapping and devastating unit.

It helped the Bruins force 18 turnovers, the first time they've forced more than 15 since the victory over Kansas on a second weekend in January.

The reserves picked up for the starters one by one midway through the first half and held Ole Miss to one basket over a nearly 10-minute stretch. The Rebels, who made just 33.9 percent of their shots, made just 1 of 9 shots and committed eight turnovers during the span.

Thompson, who had three steals, hit two 3-pointers in the Bruins' 15-0 run and Patterson contributed five points himself as UCLA turned a 10-9 deficit into a 28-13 lead.

``We beat the first team all the time in practice,'' said Hines, the only upperclassman in the unit. ``The first group is real skilled - a bunch of crafty old veterans. We just go out and don't think. These guys don't know any better. We're pressing, chest-bumping and having fun.''

It was the type of team UCLA coach Steve Lavin envisioned in October when the Bruins began practicing. A team that was 10 deep, that could trap and press, and get its scoring from a variety of sources. A team that began the season ranked No. 5 in the nation.

And also one that hasn't been seen lately.

If the Bruins, who were down to their final 40 minutes of the season, didn't see the writing on the wall, they could see it on Hines' shoes. He wrote ``Final Four'' on them.

What looked like wishful thinking now doesn't look so hard to figure.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) UCLA center Dan Gadzuric slams one home against Mississippi's Justin Reed during Friday night's game.

Chris Gardner/Associated Press

(2) Mississippi's Justin Reed reacts after missing a layup while UCLA's Andre Patterson walks away during Friday's first-round game against Mississippi in Pittsburgh.

Chris Gardner/Associated Press

(3) BILLY KNIGHT

(4) AARON HARPER

Box:

(1) FIRST-ROUND SCORES

(2) TODAY TV TIPOFFS

(3) A CLOSER LOOK

(4) TODAY'S GAMES AT-A-GLANCE