Hopes of upsetting top-ranked Stanford dashed, Dijon Thompson
was sure about one thing. Leaning against a wall in Pauley Pavilion
this past Saturday, he announced one more goal for the season with
a tired yet determined look in his eyes.
“I don’t care if we win another game,” he
said. “I would rather beat ‘SC.”
The lone win for Thompson against the Trojans came in 2002, when
then-senior Billy Knight sank a game-winning three-pointer at the
buzzer, giving UCLA a victory Thompson thought should have been a
loss.
Tonight’s road contest against USC at the Los Angeles
Sports Arena gives UCLA the opportunity to avenge those losses. But
unlike Thompson, some of the Bruins (11-12, 7-8 Pac-10) are
cautious to put a greater emphasis on the matchup.
For coach Ben Howland, defeating USC (11-13, 6-9) simply means
another much-needed win that could all but clinch UCLA’s spot
in the Pac-10 tournament. Although the Bruins are looking to win at
least two of their last three conference games in order to avoid
facing either Stanford or Arizona in the first round, Howland is
not focused on seeding just yet.
“We have to get more wins to assure we’re going to
even get in,” Howland said.
For the players, though, beating USC means more than just
another victory. It means silencing those who believe that the
Trojans’ recent success has allowed them to eclipse UCLA as
Los Angeles’s top basketball program.
The three-game streak which the Trojans are looking to maintain
is a tough fact to swallow for many UCLA players.
“It’s supposed to be the other way around,”
said point guard Cedric Bozeman.
Bozeman didn’t need to be reminded of Thompson’s
statement. He repeated it word-for-word for reporters Tuesday,
although he said he did not share Thompson’s sentiments.
For UCLA to emerge victorious tonight, it will have to do a much
better job stopping dribble penetration and containing guard Desmon
Farmer than it did in the squads’ first meeting, last
month’s 76-69 USC victory at Pauley Pavilion. In that
contest, Farmer scorched the Bruins for 28 points, many of which
came during an embarrassing first half for UCLA that ended with a
20-point deficit.
“That first half was the worst half of our year,”
said Howland.
Although UCLA has improved its zone offense, which was decidedly
lacking during their first game against USC, concerns about the
Trojans are still legitimate.
Howland pointed to the team’s athleticism and its ability
to beat opponents off the dribble as worrisome areas.
For this reason, Howland expects to utilize his own zone defense
at times tonight. UCLA, which traditionally uses solely man-to-man
defenses, was able to get back into the game in the second half by
slapping on a zone.
With injured guard Brian Morrison, who now may have a bone
bruise in addition to his badly sprained ankle, unlikely to play,
the Bruins will be without another of their top perimeter
defenders. That, however, has not made them any less determined to
pick up a victory.
“They took our heart (last time),” senior guard Jon
Crispin said. “They demoralized us. We’re not going to
let that happen again.”