Slowly, a smirk spread across Norman Powell’s face.
He entertained the thought for a second, but let it pass.
Sure, the senior guard would welcome another go-around against rival USC.
But when asked Tuesday afternoon which team he would rather face in Thursday’s Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal matchup, Powell instead opted for the team that seemingly offered a more difficult challenge – and a shot at revenge.
“I would want to play against Arizona State,” Powell said, “We let one slip away up there.”
As it turns out, the Trojans had different plans in mind.
Thanks to a furious rally, USC closed out the final 8:45 of its game against Arizona State on a 21-4 run to claim a 67-64 first round victory in the Pac-12 tournament.
The upset guarantees UCLA (19-12, 11-7 Pac-12) a third matchup with USC (12-19, 3-15) this season as the two teams will meet again Thursday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Regardless of Powell’s preference or the fact that a win over Arizona State would’ve provided the greater boost to UCLA’s resume, a Bruin squad desperate for wins certainly isn’t complaining about a third shot at the Trojans (12-19, 3-15).
“When you get a chance to go on the road again, you want to make the most of that,” said coach Steve Alford. “Right out of the chute we’re getting a neutral game and we need to win that neutral game to try and continue what we’re trying to do.”
As UCLA was uncertain of its opponent until Wednesday afternoon, Alford said that his team focused on defending transition baskets – an area that the Bruins struggled in throughout the season – in his team’s eight days between games.
The time off also offered the Bruins a rare chance to rest after getting just one bye week prior to last weekend. And while it could be argued that the break may work against UCLA – winners of three straight games – sophomore guard Bryce Alford shot down any thought of rust settling in.
“It’s March Madness – it’s hard to be rusty at that time. I think we’re all going to be amped and we’re going to play some good basketball,” Alford said. “You can tell everyone’s just energized and we haven’t seen that in a while.It’s a grind, the whole season you never really get a break.”
Some would argue that the Bruins caught a break in getting yet another crack at the Trojans – a team UCLA dispatched at Pauley Pavilion 85-74 in both team’s regular season finale.
But for UCLA to take down USC and keep its NCAA tournament hopes up, the Bruins will likely have to rely on players who lack much postseason experience. Just three players on UCLA’s roster have logged any minutes of consequence on the MGM Grand Garden Arena floor, meaning a fresh Bruin face may have to emerge in March.
Freshman forward Kevon Looney appears the obvious choice. The former five-star recruit finished second in the conference by averaging 9.5 rebounds per game and has really developed his outside shot over the last month of the season – hitting 11 of 17 attempts from beyond-the-arc over the Bruins final seven regular season games.
“He’s shooting the 3-ball a lot better than he was in November and December – and I think where he’s really shown improvement is driving the basketball,” Steve Alford said.”His footwork and pivoting confidence-wise has gotten a lot better and we’re going to need that here in the postseason because of the offense that we run.”
UCLA will likely have to make a run over the coming days to preserve its chances of making the 2015 NCAA tournament. While Looney, Bryce Alford and Powell declined to put an exact number on wins UCLA needs to earn an at-large bid, the prevailing belief is that if UCLA runs out of luck in Vegas on Thursday, it’ll likely be looking on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday.
“We just know that we’ve got to win. Being UCLA, (making the tournament) is expected from us,” Looney said. “We know what we need to do to control our destiny and I think we’re ready for it.”