Bruins Look More Like No. 104 in Loss to Irish : College basketball: UCLA shoots only 31.7% against Notre Dame, which is 7-13 after 79-63 upset.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Attention, UCLA fans, this just in: Before anyone starts buying those Final Four tickets, there is something you should know.

Notre Dame 79, UCLA 63.

Before a sellout crowd of 11,418 Saturday at the Joyce Athletic Convocation Center, UCLA was colder than the snow piled up outside and about as soft, losing to an Irish team that isn’t going to the Final Four unless it takes a bus tour.

It was easily the season lowlight for UCLA, 15-2 with two losses in three games.

Coming off a 29-point blowout of USC, the Bruins produced their fewest points, fewest points at the half (28), most turnovers (20), worst shooting (31.7%), not to mention worst mood in the locker room afterward.

“We just came out and stunk it up on national TV,” Ed O’Bannon said. “I think that’s something to be embarrassed about.

“I know anyone can be beaten at any time, but if you play the way we played today, you are going to get beat no matter if you’re No. 4 or No. 104.”

O’Bannon had 14 points and nine rebounds for UCLA, who were led by Tyus Edney’s 17 points, seven of them free throws.

Said Edney: “This won’t be good for our morale.”

It did wonders for Notre Dame’s. Monty Williams had 28 points in 38 minutes for the Irish (7-13), whose season has featured losses to Duquesne, St. Bonaventure and Loyola of Chicago.

Notre Dame was coming off an 18-point victory over Cal State Northridge, so if anyone is interested in comparison scoring, UCLA is two points better than Northridge.

Well, maybe not, but the Bruins were a whole lot worse than Notre Dame. As coaches like to say, it was a team effort, even if the direction they were going was reverse.

If they had an open shot, they missed it. If they had an easy pass, they threw it away. If they needed a big defensive play, they gave up a layup.

“Murphy’s Law game,” Coach Jim Harrick said.

That’s not Eddie Murphy, either, although the Bruins sometimes seemed to be downright comical in their transgressions, such as Cameron Dollar’s alley-oop that went into the third row or Marquis Burns’ missed dunk or George Zidek falling backward out of bounds or Ed O’Bannon airballing a three-pointer.

After throwing the ball away 13 times on turnovers, UCLA was fortunate to be down by only eight points, 36-28, at the half. The Bruins quickly fell behind, 47-32, not at all comfortable with being bumped around by Irish defenders.

It became clear that the book on playing UCLA is to be physical, contest every pass and try to get them to shoot from the outside.

“Teams are starting to adjust to us,” Ed O’Bannon said.

After playing Thursday night against USC and traveling all day Friday, the Bruins didn’t seem to have a lot of spring in their legs, but Harrick said he wasn’t going to use that as an excuse.

The Bruins had one small comeback left in them. With Notre Dame ahead, 49-34, Burns, playing because Charles O’Bannon fell on his wrist and injured it, made a couple of free throws and Edney added two more. When Ed O’Bannon rebounded his missed shot and scored, the Bruins were within 49-40.

They got as close as 51-44 at 12:29 on a couple more free throws by Edney, but on the next five UCLA possessions, the Bruins had four turnovers and a missed shot.

“I’m embarrassed,” Ed O’Bannon said. “I don’t want to down the other team, but I feel we should have won. We didn’t play well, didn’t ever get anything going.”

Any idea why?

“If I knew, it wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

Williams said he thinks the Bruins failed to take the Irish seriously. He said a friend whom he would not identify but who plays for California told him that the UCLA players regarded the Notre Dame game as an easy victory.

“Like it was a bye for them,” Williams said. “That kind of makes you mad.”

UCLA missed 25 of 33 shots in the second half. The Bruins were 0 for 16 from the three-point line, which means that in their two defeats, UCLA is one for 35 from long distance.

The worst part was toward the end. Notre Dame finished the game with two dunks and a layup, fans streamed out of the stands to celebrate, players fell on the floor in joy and the Irish marked their fifth consecutive victory in the series at the Joyce Center.

Harrick said the closing dunks didn’t mean much.

“We lost fellas, whether it’s two or 22, what’s the difference?” he said. “How many times a year do they have a chance to be excited? It basically saved their season.”

Keith Kurowski, who scored 19 points in 25 minutes, said he had a reason to be proud.

“People are always comparing us to Notre Dame football,” he said. “They go to bowl games and they are in the top 10. People tell us, ‘You’re never even in the top 50 and you lose to schools we never heard of.’ We showed ‘em today.”

Said Ed O’Bannon: “We’ll use this. There’s no way we’re going to forget it.”

Bruin Notes

Rodney Zimmerman was not in uniform because of a back injury that kept him out of practice last week. Coach Jim Harrick said Zimmerman will get an MRI exam. Said Zimmerman, who kept himself out of the game: “I let them down. I apologized to the team. It’ll never happen again.” . . . Charles O’Bannon re-injured his left wrist and went scoreless in 14 minutes, O’Bannon fell on it in a game at Washington Jan. 15. Harrick said O’Bannon will have X-rays. . . . George Zidek led the Bruin turnover derby with seven in 21 minutes. Harrick’s reaction? “My heavens, goodness gracious.”