Sophomore center Anthony Stover blocks a shot by Trojan redshirt sophomore forward Dewayne Dedmon.
The men’s basketball programs at both UCLA and USC have played home games in front of mostly empty arenas this season. But at the tip of Sunday’s rivalry showdown, there were few signs that either team was stuck in a proverbial down year.
The atmosphere was electric to start. UCLA quickly got to dialing some of the volume down.
By the end, loud chants of “UC-LA!” were drowning out the final buzzer as the Bruins left Galen Center with a 66-47 win, their first true road win of the season.
While the energy was sapped, there were still trademark signs of a rivalry game. UCLA’s bench could hear the taunts from USC’s student section. Fouls were hard and bodies were hitting the floor harder. There was even time for some smack talk, which Lazeric Jones was happy to take part in.
“That’s how it’s always going to be,” said the senior guard, who had 15 points.
“I was watching previous games, and it was chippy back then. Who am I to break the rivalry?” he added with a smile.
Jones did his part in making sure the game was basically over by halftime. He capped off an 11-point first half by blowing a kiss to the vocal UCLA fans in the upper reaches of Galen Center after he hit a long two-pointer that stretched UCLA’s lead to 19.
The Bruins (10-7, 3-2 Pac-12) shot 64 percent from the field in the opening stanza, while the Trojans were held to 29 percent.
UCLA was all smiles, but USC (5-13, 0-5) was a little redder than usual.
“We embarrassed ourselves,” USC freshman guard Alexis Moore said. “We did a disservice in our effort. Give UCLA credit. They played a great game. We didn’t match their effort. With a rivalry game, you think we would come out and play much better.”
Another statistic that overwhelmingly favored the Bruins was the rebounding margin. Coach Ben Howland immediately pointed to UCLA’s 44-19 victory in the battle of the boards ““ the Bruins’ biggest rebounding margin since 2004 ““ as the key to the game.
At one point the Bruins looked like they were running a tip drill by themselves on the glass. Though USC had two players 7-feet or taller, the Trojans were helpless to grab a rebound.
“When you control boards, you control tempo,” sophomore center Joshua Smith said.
“It doesn’t matter how tall or big you are. We really don’t care. Just like they don’t care how big I am, or Stov (Anthony Stover), or the twins, you just go out there and play. Today we were just more physical.”
USC never had an answer for UCLA’s size. Smith played through foul trouble to score six points and grab five rebounds. His redshirt sophomore backup, Stover, had back-to-back emphatic blocks in one sequence in the first half. The twins ““ redshirt sophomore forwards David and Travis Wear ““ combined for 15 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive glass. Travis Wear’s 19 points led all scorers.
The win gives UCLA momentum in the form of a three-game winning streak with two more road games coming up next week. The Bruins will face the Oregon schools after finally showing they can win on the road, though in their eyes, they’ve never really felt at home on the “Bruin Road Show.”
“We’ve been on the road the whole year,” Howland said. “We’re used to it by now.”