Darren Collison came out of the locker room with fire in his eyes. The sophomore wanted so badly to energize the crowd and jump on the Trojans early.
But after the first couple minutes went by and USC jumped out to a quick lead, Collison found himself on the bench.
“I just wanted to get him settled down,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “There’s a lot of excitement that goes in this game and I just think he was really amped up and probably had too much adrenaline flowing.”
“Any time you play against your rival team, you’re always going to feel amped up,” Collison said. “But you have to be real mentally focused as the game starts. You can’t have mental lapses.”
Once Collison got back in the game, though, he never came out again. Collison finished the game as the Bruins’ leading scorer with 17 points on 7-12 shooting.
Collison carried the Bruins on his back for much of the game, attacking the basket and converting at critical times as the Bruins kept pace with the Trojans in the second half. He finished the game shooting 6-7 from two-point range, most of which were layups and easy looks he created with his aggressiveness.
“That’s something you’ll probably see more of,” junior guard Arron Afflalo said about Collison’s play. “I’m always going to do my part, but we have many leaders on this team, like I’ve said from day one. … Tonight was (Collison’s) night as it was last time we played ‘SC.”
While USC’s zone defense and constant switching threw off the Bruins at times, Collison was able to take advantage of it for a good part of the game. The Trojans extended their zone, manning up on Afflalo and sophomore forward Josh Shipp in an attempt to take them out of the game.
But that just left more room for Collison to operate.
“Their 2-3 zone was a little bit unique,” Collison said. “It was a little bit more extended and it almost looked like they were face-guarding Arron and Josh on the wings. … They were leaving the gaps open.”
WESTBROOK BOOSTS BRUINS: Freshman guard Russell Westbrook didn’t play much against USC; in fact, he didn’t play at all in the second half. But when the Trojans jumped out to a big early lead, Westbrook was the lone Bruin attacking the basket, scoring a bucket and creating for others.
Westbrook had two points and three assists in seven minutes, but it wasn’t his numbers that left the biggest impact.
“Anytime you see a freshman like that be so aggressive and be so under control and make big plays, it tends to settle the team down,” Collison said. “I thought he did a good job of that.”
SPECIAL DELIVERY: Late Tuesday night, Mike Roll, Josh Shipp, James Keefe, Russell Westbrook, Mustafa Abdul-Hamid and DeAndre Robinson passed out pizzas to the students who were camped outside of Pauley Pavilion for Wednesday’s game.
The players, accompanied by the Bruins’ assistant coaches, mingled and played video games with the students.
GOVERNORS: Former governor Gray Davis and current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger were in attendance. Schwarzenegger, accompanied by numerous secret service guards, was given a mixed reaction, with loud applause and scattered boos when he entered the arena midway through the second half.
DRIBBLERS: Walk-on Joey Ellis did not suit up for Saturday’s game. … Gymnast Kate Richardson was honored for being the 2006 Pac-10 Female Student-Athlete of the Year. … Former UCLA football standouts Cade McNown, Ryan Nece and Marcedes Lewis were in attendance as well as former UCLA football coach Terry Donahue and baseball great Eric Karros.