After UCLA’s loss to Oregon last week, Arron Afflalo
insisted he was the leader of the Bruins, and that he should be the
one to take the last shot in a dire situation.
It didn’t take the junior guard very long to back up his
words with action.
A well-covered Afflalo hung in the air and drained a 15-foot
shot to give the Bruins a one-point lead over USC with 4.7 seconds
remaining, and No. 4 UCLA went on to defeat its archrival 65-64 in
front of a sold-out Galen Center crowd.
“You live for these moments,” Afflalo said after the
game. “I’m going to enjoy this win.”
Just like last week against Oregon, the Bruins had trailed for
most of the game and had a chance to win the game on their final
possession.
The circumstances were eerily similar to those that caused
Afflalo to nearly break into tears after the Bruins were defeated
by the Ducks.
“Knowing you made the comments last week and the very next
game you’re in that same situation … I did feel the
pressure a little bit,” Afflalo said.
“But once I get the ball in my hands, I don’t hear
the crowd, I don’t hear anything. I’m looking to make
that shot,” he said.
“I told Arron it was my fault in Oregon,” UCLA coach
Ben Howland said. “You have to give him a lot of credit
today. I’m really, really proud of Arron.”
Afflalo’s heroics capped off one of the most exciting
games between the schools in the history of the rivalry.
USC gave the Bruins fits for most of the game.
The Trojans opened up a 10-point lead over the Bruins with just
over 10 minutes left in the game.
But after USC freshman forward Taj Gibson dunked the ball to
give USC a 55-49 edge with 8:20 to play, the Bruin defense
tightened up and the Trojans went nearly five full minutes without
scoring a point.
UCLA, meanwhile, surged ahead 58-55 on Afflalo’s 3-pointer
with 3:49 to go, and after the Bruins extended that lead to six
points with 51 seconds remaining, it appeared as if the
Trojans’ effort would go for naught.
But in a stunning turn of events, USC’s Gabe Pruitt hit a
3-pointer with two Bruins running at him, Bruin junior center
Lorenzo Mata missed two free throws after being intentionally
wrapped up immediately after Pruitt’s shot, and
‘SC’s Nick Young hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and
was fouled by UCLA sophomore guard Darren Collison.
Young sunk his free throw to take back the lead for the Trojans
with 23 seconds remaining.
That set the stage for Afflalo’s heroics, which bailed out
the late gaffes by Mata and Collison, who both played exceptionally
well in the second half after rough first halves.
“I was disappointed when (Nick) hit that shot,” said
Mata, disgusted after missing his free throws. “I put my head
down, but I knew my team was going to fight back and that the game
wasn’t over.”
For Collison, the critical foul on Young nearly overshadowed the
fact that the Bruins probably would not have been in a position to
win without his outstanding play in the second half.
The sophomore scored 12 of his career-high 17 points and earned
all three of his assists in the second half.
“I thought (Collison) came out tentative,” Howland
said. “He was much more aggressive in the second
half.”
A key stat in the outcome of the game was free-throw
shooting.
USC shot a higher field-goal percentage and higher 3-point
percentage than UCLA, but the Trojans had uncharacteristic
struggles from the charity stripe.
USC, which came into the game shooting 72 percent as a team,
shot just 7-14 from the line. Young, Pruitt and freshman Daniel
Hackett, who came in shooting 75, 83, and 89 percent respectively,
combined to go just 5-9 from the line. Not one of USC’s
players who missed a free throw was shooting less than 63
percent.
“As bad as we were from the free-throw line, they were
worse,” said Howland, who saw his Bruins go 12-19 from the
line.
The victory, combined with the UCLA women’s team’s
loss to USC, put the Bruins ahead 35-10 in the Lexus Gauntlet
standings.
It’s a game Afflalo will never forget.
“It makes for good stories down the line,” Afflalo
said.
“I can talk to (former high school teammate Pruitt) about
it many years from now. Right now, it’s very sweet and
I’m very happy we were able to bounce back,” he
said.