The secret is out. Ben Howland loves “Animal House.”
“What a great movie,” the UCLA basketball coach said at his Monday press conference. “One of the best.”
Maybe Howland enjoys toga parties. Maybe he never misses a good food fight. The likeliest scenario, though, is that he’s inspired by Bluto’s legendary speech at the end of the film.
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” John Belushi’s character famously cried. “Hell no!”
Expect a similar ““ if not more eloquent and historically accurate ““ oratory from Howland in advance of tonight’s showdown with crosstown rival USC. Not only have the Trojans (12-10, 4-5 Pac-10) beaten the Bruins (14-7, 6-3) once already this season, they have won the last four contests between the two teams dating back to the 2008-2009 season.
“When anybody beats you four times in a row, especially your main rival, I think you want to beat them more than usual,” sophomore forward Reeves Nelson said. “We’re all going to be really focused on the game.”
USC put a controversial exclamation point on its 63-52 home win over UCLA on Jan. 9 when many Trojans began celebrating, shaking hands and high-fiving with nearly a minute still left in the game.
UCLA players didn’t take too kindly to the gesture. With emotions running high, freshman center Joshua Smith even admitted to making an obscene gesture to a USC fan who allegedly insulted Smith’s family.
Is there any doubt that the rivalry is alive and well?
“It’s more of a pride factor,” sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt said. “We want to get the win most importantly, but there’s also bragging rights that come from that.”
The two teams have taken divergent paths since that Trojan victory at the Galen Center. UCLA has rattled off wins in five of the six games since, while USC has won just two of its past six games. The Bruins’ recent run of success has them within just one game of conference co-leaders Arizona and Washington.
Still, coming off a mediocre showing in a loss to Arizona and a major second-half letdown in an overtime win over Arizona State, UCLA has its fair share of kinks to work out, chief among them being able to put together 40 minutes of consistent effort. The Bruins completely blew big leads against Cal and Arizona State, and had to roar back after starting off in a major deficit against Stanford.
“We’re still letting teams back into games when we shouldn’t be, but we’re turning the corner,” Honeycutt said.
In its first matchup with USC, UCLA actually led by a couple of points at halftime before Trojan forwards Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stepheson completely took over the game in the second half. Vucevic led all scorers with 20 points, while Stepheson had 13 of his own and pulled down 16 rebounds.
“We’ve got that first game to go on in terms of preparation, but it’s equally difficult,” Howland said. “They played well against us.”
Even with all the chatter centered around the front court, it may have been the UCLA guards that were the story that day. Juniors Lazeric Jones and Malcolm Lee combined for just seven points on one-of-12 shooting, with one mere assist apiece.
This time around, however, Jones is coming off a game in which he shot seven-of-nine from the floor en route to a game-high 18 points against the Sun Devils. Lee is playing some of the best all-around basketball of his career and will be asked to defend USC’s best perimeter scorer, junior Jio Fontan.
Chances are the Bruins won’t be too concerned with where they get their production, as long as it’s enough to snap the losing skid in the rivalry.
Only Lee and fellow junior guard Jerime Anderson have ever witnessed a victory over USC.
For Howland and company, four losses to the Trojans is too many.
“We don’t want to make it five,” he said. “It’s a must-win because we really need it bad for this year’s team.”
With reports from Eli Smukler, Bruin Sports senior staff.