Pac-10 Title Is Unrealistic

With a month left in the Pacific 10 Conference season, Thursday’s loss to Oregon all but knocked UCLA out of the title race it has dominated for the last three years.

At 7-3 in conference play, the Bruins are in third place, three games behind front-runner Arizona (10-0), with eight games to play--including the March 7 finale at Pauley Pavilion against the Wildcats.

Quietly, the Bruins’ seniors seemed to accept the reality that they are basically playing for NCAA tournament seeding purposes now, not for a fourth consecutive league crown.

“It’s different,” forward J.R. Henderson said. “Especially for the senior class--we’ve won it every year. . . . But we knew it was going to be hard this year, because there’s so many good teams in the Pac-10 this year that could knock you off.”

TODAY

UCLA at Oregon State

* 12:30

* Channel 7

Site--Gill Coliseum, Corvallis.

Radio--AM 1150.

Records--No. 6 Bruins 17-4, 7-3; Beavers 12-10, 2-8.

Update--After its loss at Oregon on Thursday, UCLA needs to win this game. “Our coach said it’s now a business trip,” Henderson said. “And I agree. Now, we’ve got to split the Oregon trip and really concentrate on the Oregon State game. No mental lapses or anything like that.”