In a matchup of two teams struggling to shoot, UCLA at first opted not to and, in doing so, finally found its rhythm.
Behind a dominant performance in the paint and a revitalized effort from guards Bryce Alford and Norman Powell, UCLA took down crosstown rival USC 83-66 Wednesday night.
While jump shots failed to fall in the first half for the Pac-12’s two worst shooting teams – USC (9-8, 1-4 Pac-12) shot just 37.9 percent from the field and UCLA (11-7, 3-2) connected on 4 for 13 from beyond the arc – the Bruins’ inside game again rose to the occasion.
Freshman forward Kevon Looney and sophomore guard Isaac Hamilton hauled in six rebounds apiece in the first half as the Bruins out-rebounded the Trojans 24-10 over the initial period. The performance on the glass led to a 20-14 scoring advantage in the paint and a 36-31 lead at the break.
UCLA pressed both advantages in the second half as the Bruins more than doubled up the Trojans on the glass with a 41-20 edge, and thus grew a five-point lead at the break to double digits for the majority of the final 20 minutes.
“I thought our defense was outstanding tonight,” said coach Steve Alford. “We hold (USC) to four offensive rebounds and beat them by (21) on the glass, I thought that was the difference.”
What was different for UCLA Wednesday night in the Galen Center was the play of Powell and Alford. The Bruins’ backcourt duo controlled the second half as Looney was sidelined for a bit with a leg injury and junior forward/center Tony Parker battled foul trouble after leading UCLA with 9 first-half points.
After shooting below 50 percent for the previous six games – including a 5-39 stretch in the middle of UCLA’s five-game losing streak, Bryce Alford caught fire in the second half.
The sophomore guard scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half on 6-for-9 shooting, including back-to-back three’s during the Bruins 14-2 run out of halftime. Alford finished 8-14 from the field, the first time since UCLA’s Dec. 13 loss to Gonzaga that he shot above 50 percent.
“Oh my gosh – it’s been a while, it’s been a while,” Bryce Alford said of the last time he felt this confident shooting the ball. “That’s probably the best I’ve felt when the ball is leaving my fingers. … That was the first time in five or six games where I really had the confidence where I knew just about every one was going in.”
Just about every shot went in for UCLA in the paint, where the Bruins finished with a 46-30 advantage. While Looney ended the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Parker added 14 points of his own, the difference inside was Powell, who regularly drove the lane and nearly ran USC right out of the building.
“Powell took over the game,” said USC coach Andy Enfield. “He used his skill. He’s first team all-league in my book.”
The senior guard hit seven of his 10 shots coming out of halftime, many of them layups, as he regularly penetrated the Trojans’ zone defense on his way to a game-high 22 points.
In doing so, Powell became the first Bruin to beat the Trojans four consecutive times at USC since Toby Bailey accomplished the feat between 1995 and 1998.
“It’s a really good feeling to be 4-0 in this building,” Powell said. “I feel like this team really grew on this road trip to ‘SC. We were executing in the second half and getting what we wanted and working the ball around. That’s really key for us going forward; we really set the tone for the way we want our offense ran.”
It was the first time in a long time that UCLA finally looked like UCLA, as the Bruins reached 80-plus points in regulation for the first time since the end of November after averaging more than 80 points per game a season ago.
Much of the thanks goes to Powell and Alford, who looked like the players they are capable of being following a month of struggles.
In the locker room after the game, following his rejuvenating performance, Bryce Alford wrote two words on the board: “Mission Accomplished.”
In the wake of its five-game losing streak, UCLA set out on what then looked like the impossible: winning three games in nine days.
“We had a mission when we came home from the road losses against Utah and Colorado that we were going to get three wins in nine days,” Bryce Alford said. “Tonight was the last part of it, and that’s what we did and it feels good to finally do it.”