The Week

WEST

New Mexico players could not stand it any longer, so they asked Coach Bob King to move them out of the sorority house where they had been living between semesters. The Lobos said that they found life with the frilly curtains as demoralizing as their four straight road losses. King put them in a motel, and before anyone could say Kappa Alpha Theta, New Mexico was whomping favored Texas-El Paso 68-44. King also changed his team's style. For years he tried to please fans with a running game, but against the Miners he slowed the pace. On defense he kept switching from man-to-man to a zone trap and held UTEP to almost 30 points below its average. It was all part of a frenetic week in the Western AC. Colorado State started off tied for first place, only to lose 78-74 to Arizona, which had lost 11 of 12, and 99-71 to Arizona State. Wyoming lost to both of the Arizonas, to the Wildcats 75-66, and to the Sun Devils 81-67. Brigham Young, a 67-61 winner over Utah, was the only unbeaten team in the WAC.

After going last season without anyone taller than 6'4", Texas Tech Coach Gerald Myers went shopping. He came back with a couple of junior-college redwoods, 6'8" Ralph (Telescope) Palomar and 6'10" Ron Richardson. Last week the Red Raiders reached new heights as Palomar had 23 points and Richardson 14 in a 73-67 victory over Baylor, the best—with a 10-2 pre-conference record—of any of the Southwest Conference teams. Defending SWC champion TCU also had help from a JC transfer—Simpson Degrate, who had 31 points—as it downed Arkansas 95-77. Sophomore Larry Robertson pumped in 35 points for Texas, which beat Rice 87-73.

Tied for the lead in the West Coast AC with 4-0 records were Santa Clara and San Francisco. Mike Stewart had 36 points as the Broncos held off Seattle 86-83. Phil Smith got 25 in the Dons' 92-75 win over St. Mary's.

UCLA's Wooden soldiers marched past Stanford 118-79 and California 82-43 as Bill Walton scored 52 points. Said Stanford Coach Howie Dallmar of Walton: "He has total intimidation." Dallmar then compared Walton to Bill Russell in his college days. " Walton plays defense even better than Bill did," he said, "plus he does everything offensively." USC, trying to prove it belongs in the league with UCLA, beat California 102-69 and Stanford 65-63. In the latter win Paul Westphal controlled the ball for almost half a minute before driving in for the winning basket with seven seconds to go.

Long Beach State led Los Angeles State by just five points with 13:25 left when 6'11" Nate Stephens of the 49ers fouled out. But 6'10" Bob Lynn took over. Result: the 49ers popped in 22 field goals and 56 points (10 by Lynn) for a 103-83 win. After playing at Long Beach, Santa Barbara Coach Ralph Barkey said: "They have a tremendous advantage at home. During one time out our players had to sit on towels out on the court. On the bench, people were leaning over, listening in and making faces at us." Santa Barbara lost 75-57. It was Long Beach's 50th consecutive home win.

Weber State coaxed Utah State into a game, then beat the Aggies 69-67 with a pressing defense. Marquette gamboled past Nevada-Reno 82-55. Southern Colorado State, a small-college team, ran out of players, if not fight. Charged with 39 fouls, Southern played the final 30 seconds against Air Force with three men and lost 84-76.

1. UCLA (12-0)
2. LONG BEACH STATE (14-1)

EAST

Penn stepped into a Tiger trap and came out a two-way loser, to Princeton 69-56 and to the Tigers' coach, Pete Carril, who turned into a lecturer after the game. "Don't tell me about your zones, I formation, tandem I and tandem right," he said. "They're baloney. It's courage and character that make the difference between players and great players, between great surgeons and ones who bury their mistakes." It was Penn's first league loss after a record 30 straight Ivy victories, which must say something about its own courage and character. Reggie Bird and John Berger got 15 points each for Princeton, Brian Taylor 17. Taylor's chief contribution, though, was negative. He limited Penn's Corky Calhoun to one field goal.