This was college basketball’s version of the Perfect
Storm.
Almost everything went right for UCLA. Almost everything went
wrong for USC.
And the result, well, was perfect as far as Bruin fans were
concerned.
Behind its best-sustained team defense of the season, No. 18
UCLA (15-3, 5-2 Pac-10) rushed out to a 24-5 lead and never looked
back Wednesday night, cruising to an easy 66-45 victory over
cross-town rival USC (12-5, 3-4) before 13,037 at Pauley
Pavilion.
“We got off to a good start,” sophomore guard Arron
Afflalo said. “When you have the crowd behind you like that
and you get off to a good start, it tears the other team’s
heart out.”
UCLA’s initial run, featuring stifling defense and three
3-pointers from point guard Jordan Farmar, left USC with little
more than a pulse.
Five minutes into the second half, with UCLA holding a 26-point
lead, the collective Trojan heart had essentially stopped
beating.
“I thought we really played well tonight,” coach Ben
Howland said. “We played extremely hard.”
Howland couldn’t say enough for his team’s defense,
calling it the best defense the Bruins have played for an entire 40
minutes all season.
UCLA, who is in first place in the Pac-10, held the Trojans to a
season-low 29.5 percent field goal percentage, 19 first-half points
and forced 18 turnovers. The 21-point loss was USC’s worst of
the season.
“For the first time this season we really focused in on
defense for an entire 40 minutes,” Afflalo said. “For
the first time this season we didn’t make the mistake of just
playing basket for basket.”
In their split with the Washington schools last week, the Bruins
let big first-half leads dwindle late in both games. They hung on
to beat the Cougars by two, but weren’t so fortunate against
the Huskies.
“We learn from our mistakes,” Farmar said. “We
played some good halves together in the past. Today at halftime we
were saying, “˜Don’t let it happen again. Stay focused.
No goofing around.'”
The halftime focus paid off, as a 20-point halftime lead became
a 30-point lead with just over eight minutes to play in the game.
By the time freshman Kelvin Kim checked in with 1:54 to play, the
game was little more than a laughter, much like last season’s
21-point victory over USC in Pauley Pavilion.
The win was UCLA’s third in a row against USC, a team that
to this point in the season had been much-improved under first-year
coach Tim Floyd.
Floyd lost his cool Wednesday, receiving a technical foul with
16:11 to play in the game following an offensive-foul call against
the Trojans.
“We’re really disappointed,” Floyd said.
“Give UCLA credit. They guarded us and got after us. They did
a tremendous job defensively. We didn’t respond and we
didn’t handle the ball well.”
Though UCLA’s 19 turnovers may be a slight cause of alarm,
Howland was pleased to see the Bruins once again win the rebounding
battle, out-rebounding the Trojans 33-27.
Alfred Aboya got the start at center Wednesday because he
grabbed the most rebounds in Tuesday’s practice.
“Our losses have a common denominator, and that’s
losing on the glass,” Howland said.
Farmar’s performance, which featured 15 points, six
assists and five rebounds, was certainly a welcome sight for the
Bruins. Farmar had struggled offensively for several games, scoring
in single digits in four of the team’s last six, prior to
Wednesday’s impressive play.
Against the Trojans, he scored the game’s first six points
on two 3-pointers.
“I was just looking to be aggressive,” Farmar said.
“I know I can score the ball if I need to.”
“Tonight I got open looks and I wasn’t going to pass
them up.”
Howland had said earlier in the week that Farmar had been
falling out of his shots rather than following through.
On Wednesday, everything looked better.
“I thought Jordan really did a great job tonight,”
Howland said. “He really played with a lot of passion
defensively.”
In fact, everyone played with a lot of passion defensively, and
that made for a relatively perfect evening.