After being limited to just two points in the first half of Saturday’s rivalry game between his visiting USC team and UCLA, O.J. Mayo made an immediate impact in the second period, helping the Trojans to an upset victory over the Bruins.
Mayo scored a quick two points on USC’s first possession of the second half to get into a groove. The rest of the Trojans followed suit, maintaining their tempo and squeezing out a rare win at Pauley Pavilion.
But the sudden burst in the second half ““ when Mayo scored 14 of his 16 points ““ wasn’t so much because of the defense of sophomore Russell Westbrook and junior Josh Shipp, who defended the Trojan freshman for the majority of the game. It was based on the Bruins getting beat on the fast break, giving up points in transition and not being able to come off screens on the defensive end.
“We weren’t getting back a couple of times, and a couple of screens we should’ve switched,” Westbrook said. “But overall, I think Josh and I did a great job of defending him.”
It wasn’t the first time that Westbrook had the task of covering the highly touted freshman, as the two faced off on different occasions in the summer, when the Bruin guard made drastic improvements in his offensive and defensive game.
Saturday afternoon, however, his offensive prowess was nowhere to be found, but Westbrook was able to help keep the Bruins in the game based on his defensive efforts on Mayo.
Mayo played 40 minutes and took just 12 shots, under his average of over 16 shots per game. Mayo was sure to distribute the ball to his teammates.
“Players other than me did a great job,” Mayo said. “It was important to make sure everyone was rolling. That way we could keep intensity on the defensive end and on the boards. I just really wanted to win and make sure our guys were happy.”
SHOOTING WOES: Ben Howland and his Bruin squad felt that they may have taken some questionable shots early in the shot clock and some others based on emotion and becoming too anxious after letting up easy points on the defensive end.
“I think we got caught up in being so emotional that we took some questionable shots,” Howland said.
“We took some early shots when we had the lead,” Shipp added. “They didn’t go in for us, and we didn’t get back on defense, let them score, and took more questionable shots.”
Junior Alfred Aboya missed two open shots from the outside, ended the day shooting 0-4, and fouled out after 22 minutes in the game. Before sustaining a concussion late in the first half, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute shot 1-7, including three misses from beyond the arc, and had three turnovers in 19 minutes.
Additionally, Westbrook was 2-11 from the field, missing jumpers from the top of the key, three shots from 3-point territory and a dunk.
“We missed open shots,” Shipp said. “The looks were there. There were so many guys that just missed open shots. That’s what it was.”
INJURY UPDATE: Mbah a Moute was not the only Bruin to suffer a concussion in the 72-63 loss on Saturday afternoon. Senior Lorenzo Mata also hit the floor hard when he drew a charge in the first half.
On his way down, Mata hit his head on the deck and was very slow to get up. Trainers attended to him on the court.
Mata was able to return to the game, but while Mbah a Moute played briefly right after his injury, it quickly became clear that he had a concussion and Howland removed Mbah a Moute from the rotation. That forced other Bruins to play more minutes.
“It was definitely a tough loss for us,” Shipp said. “(Mbah a Moute’s) just a great player for us, and (his) being out at the end of the game definitely hurt us.”
The Bruins released a statement Sunday that said both players “are better and have shown improvements today. They will continue to be evaluated on a daily basis. No decisions have been made as to when they will return to practice.”