LAS VEGAS — Senior guard Norman Powell attacked the rim with a ferocity that left some wondering if it had personally insulted him and others worrying if inanimate objects could feel pain.
The Bruins meanwhile wasted no time in answering the question of whether its young roster was ready for prime time, as UCLA put together perhaps its best offensive performance of the season in defeating USC 96-70.
“Our offensive flow today was great. We were moving the ball, we were finding the open guy and every one had a part in this win,” said Powell. “That’s really what you want to do coming into the first game of this tournament.”
Maybe it was the fact that this was UCLA’s third shot at USC’s porous defense. Maybe it had something to do with the Bruins’ eight days of rest prior to Thursday. Or maybe, it was just one of those games.
Playing for the first time since his grandmother Lucine passed away Sunday, Isaac Hamilton delivered the best UCLA scoring performance since 2005 by hitting 13 of 17 field goals en route to a 36-point finish.
“Soon as I stepped on the court, I tried to play for her,” Hamilton said. “It’s like basically playing back in high school, AAU, one of those games. You just feel it, your confidence is at a high. Every shot you feel is going in.”
Almost every shot did for Hamilton, who played with an aggression and confidence little seen prior to Thursday. The rest of the Bruins followed his and Powell’s lead as UCLA showed none of the jitters that can prove deadly to inexperienced squads. Like Powell, Tony Parker found success in the paint, as the junior forward/center missed just one of his five shots in the first half and finished the contest with 14 points.
UCLA’s success down low – the Bruins finished with a 50-34 scoring advantage in the paint – opened up the perimeter. Four different players hit from beyond the arc, none more successfully than Hamilton.
The sophomore guard displayed remarkable poise given the circumstances, and despite playing with a heavy heart, wore a smile for nearly all of the 34 minutes he saw the floor. He air-balled a 3-pointer after making his first six shots of the second half, which did little else other than prove that yes, he could miss.
There were some reality checks along the way. UCLA’s perimeter defense lacked at times, and freshman forward Kevon Looney did not return to the game after suffering a facial injury in the first half.
But those moments were few and far between as everything seemed to go UCLA’s way. Bryce Alford confirmed as much as the sophomore guard’s 3-pointer midway through the second period found nothing but net as he was fouled.
Even Looney’s absence paid dividends, as inexperienced reserves sophomore guard/forward Noah Allen, freshman forward Gyorgy Goloman and freshman center Thomas Welsh logged a combined 62 minutes in their first action in the conference tournament.
Goloman provided an outside presence by hitting two 3-pointers, while Welsh and Allen played solid defense, highlighted by Allen’s big-time rejection off at the rim that drew exclamations from those gathered at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“When we can have our bench come in and step up like that, that’s big-time for us,” Alford said.
Now, UCLA appears just one big-time win away from securing a NCAA tournament berth. To do that, it must get through Pac-12 regular season champion and tournament No. 1 seed Arizona, who easily dispatched Cal prior to UCLA doing the same to USC.
True, the task is daunting, as Arizona lost just one of their last 16 games – including a 57-47 win in Tuscon, Ariz., against UCLA. But after a game in which seemingly nothing could slow the Bruins, they certainly aren’t lacking in confidence.
“We’ve got to beat the best team in the league. We know obviously that we’re on the bubble and that if we were to beat Arizona, that’s probably the win that gets us in,” Alford said. “We’re defending champs here, we came here with that mindset. We know that we can do it.”