Pauley Pavilion’s largest audience of the season was downright raucous before Saturday’s rivalry showdown. But by the time the game ended, only one section was still cheering.
Nestled near the ceiling, a small splotch of red-clad fans was being stoked by a single figure standing a hundred feet below on the west baseline raising his arms into the air.
USC senior Dwight Lewis was basking in the glory of his third victory over UCLA in as many years.
In front of a home crowd that has been short of heroes lately, Lewis played the role of villain to perfection, tallying a season-high 24 points in the Trojans’ 67-46 victory.
“Just to do it in this fashion, it’s a good way to go out,” he said after the game.
Easily the most vocal player on the court, Lewis made a point to celebrate after his baskets to pump up an already-galvanized USC squad.
“I obviously hear him barking,” said UCLA senior guard Michael Roll, who was tasked with guarding Lewis for a good portion of the game. “But there’s not much we can do when we’re losing.”
Lewis had scored 88 total points in eight career games against UCLA, but not with anything like his performance this weekend, which simply stunned the Bruins’ defense.
“He just got it going early really,” Roll said. “Once he made a couple, he just kept his shot.”
Lewis already had a layup and a 3-pointer by the time UCLA even got on the scoreboard.
By halftime, he had 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, making it the second straight game that the Bruins had allowed an opposing guard that total in the first half. Stanford sophomore Jeremy Green had torched UCLA for 30 points in Palo Alto a week before.
No one needed to remind Bruin coach Ben Howland of those numbers. In the post-game press conference, Howland brought up several of examples of UCLA’s failure to execute the defensive game plan that was given a week’s time to put in order.
“The first time (Lewis) scored was just a drive all the way to the basket with no one rotated over to help,” Howland said, admitting that even though his team had planned for a slashing, athletic offense, they were still consistently getting beaten by it.
“We haven’t drawn a charge in the last three games,” he added. “We’re really struggling in that area, defensively sliding over when we’re getting beat off the dribble.”
In the second half, Lewis made the only two shots he took ““ both from beyond the arc ““ but he managed to draw plenty of attention away from his teammates, especially sophomore forward Nikola Vucevic, who had 17 points of his own after the break to finish with 19.
“We want him to be really aggressive,” USC coach Kevin O’Neill said of Lewis. “When he’s aggressive, it opens up things for other guys.”
If there is anyone who understood the significance of the game’s outcome, it was Lewis. The 6-foot-5-inch senior has become the rock for his program over one of the more hectic four-year spans in its history. He is the team’s active career leader in points, rebounds, 3-pointers, assists and steals.
Two years ago today, an unranked USC team came into Westwood and handed then-No. 4 UCLA its only home Pac-10 loss of the season. Lewis is the only USC or UCLA starter from that game still on campus ““ five others are now in the NBA ““ but he claimed Saturday’s win felt even better.
Perhaps that was because, despite a mass exodus of players during the offseason and this month’s self-imposed sanctions that will ban USC from the upcoming postseason, Lewis and his teammates still found a way to beat UCLA handily.
Surrounded by reporters as he exited the visitor’s locker room, Lewis did not act like someone whose career was in any way marginalized by the chaos of his school’s discretions. Somebody asked him if he knew he had just helped the Trojans to their largest-ever margin of victory in Pauley.
“No, I had no idea,” Lewis responded with a wide grin. “But thanks for telling me.”