It’s been almost two years since UCLA beat USC in a men’s basketball game.
The Trojans dominated the Bruins last season, winning all three match-ups in games that weren’t even close.
The margin of victories: 14, 19 and then 24 in the game that ended UCLA’s season in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
But last year was one of the few anomalies in which USC finished with a much better overall season in recent crosstown rivalry history, a record of 21-13 compared to 15-17.
It was more of a surprise that the Trojans stumped the Bruins’ dynamic offense in the first match-up this season, forcing 17 turnovers and running out to a 84-76 home win in the Galen Center.
“We just didn’t play well that game,” said sophomore guard Aaron Holiday. “Hopefully when we play them here we’ll get our shots falling and take care of the ball.”
There’s a lot at stake in the Saturday rematch more than three weeks later for No. 6 UCLA (23-3, 10-3 Pac-12). First, of course, is bragging rights from snapping USC’s (21-5, 8-5) four-game winning streak in the rivalry.
More importantly, UCLA needs a win if it has any chance to keep up with No. 5 Arizona (24-3, 12-1) and No. 7 Oregon (23-4, 11-2) in the three-headed race for the best record in the Pac-12.
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To do so, the Bruins should be ready to show that it can solve the Trojan 2-3 zone defense that kept them off-balance for much of the night last time the two met.
“When you face zones, you got to be able to get it inside, and I don’t think we did that,” said coach Steve Alford. “We stood a lot, and again I think that’s indicative of a team to me that looked a little tired. Hopefully we got a little bit different look to us Saturday.”
Alford said he thought his team just didn’t play good basketball in their back-to-back losses to Arizona and then USC – he saw signs that the busy early schedule had worn on his players. That shouldn’t be a problem this time around as UCLA last played Sunday, giving the team almost a week off to rest up mentally and physically.
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The Trojans won’t look the same however, with sophomore forward Bennie Boatwright back on the court after a knee injury late November. In the four games he’s played since his return, Boatwright is averaging 16.8 points per game.
The stretch-four will present an tough match-up for the Bruins’ own stretch-four, freshman forward T.J. Leaf and his team-leading 16.6 points per game.
In the UCLA loss last time around, USC looked like the faster and more athletic team, running out to several highlight finishes above the rim.
Alford conceded that the Trojans are an athletic team, but thinks that the Bruins match up better than they showed. He said that the 17 turnovers made it much easier for the other team to look athletic when they’re getting wide open dunks in transition.
“Honestly that’s my fault,” said freshman guard Lonzo Ball. “I’m the point guard. I didn’t figure out the defense early enough – think I had like 10 turnovers or something like that. But this game is going to be a lot better.”
For the record, Ball only turned it over seven times, but the point still stands.
UCLA is looking for redemption and to show that it can outclass and outrun the team across town.