Last spring, USC came into Pauley Pavilion and defeated the Bruins, summarizing the kind of year the team was having. This time around, it was clear they wouldn’t let it happen again.
UCLA (22-9, 13-7 in the Big 10) demolished USC (15-16, 7-13 in the Big 10) on Saturday night at Pauley, defeating them 90-63. From the jump, it was all Bruins. The team opened the outing with a 14-2 run and never looked back.
The Bruins’ effort was dominant both offensively and defensively. For just the third time this season, five Bruins scored in the double digits. The eruption of offensive productivity was headed by Eric Dailey Jr., who scored a career-high of 25 points. The Oklahoma State transfer shot extremely efficiently, sinking 10 of his 13 shots from the field, and four of five shots from the three-point range.
Also contributing were Skyy Clark, Aday Mara and Tyler Bilodeau, putting up 17, 14 and 12 points respectively. As a whole, the team shot 61.7% from the field, their second highest total of the season. Not only did they outwork USC on the perimeter, but they were unstoppable inside as well. The Trojan bigs were unable to mitigate UCLA’s interior presence, getting outscored 42-16 in the paint.
Just as aggressive as the team was offensively, they brought equal intensity on the defensive side. UCLA held a Trojan team averaging nearly 77 points this season to just 63, forcing 20 turnovers in the process. The team combined for 12 steals in total, with six players recording at least one.
Defensive effort and intensity have been central reasons for the Bruins’ success all season. The team ranks top 20 in the country in points allowed and top 30 in defensive efficiency. “This is the basketball we know we can play” Dailey Jr. said.
For the first time since the 2017-18 season, UCLA swept the season series against USC. The team’s 40 minutes of unrelenting aggression were motivated by a multitude of factors. “The combination of the double-bye, rivalry game, the fans, senior night…that energy just fed us for the entire game,” Skyy Clark said about the team’s intensity.
In their final home game, seniors Lazar Stefanovic and Kobe Johnson combined to total four points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Following a bittersweet pre-game ceremony, the two played great minutes, lifting the Bruins to their blowout victory. “We’re gonna miss them guys a lot,” Clark said. Although this may have been a goodbye to Pauley, the season isn’t over just yet for the pair.
UCLA has now locked up the fourth seed in the Big 10 Tournament, thanks to tiebreakers, granting them a double-bye and an automatic bid into the quarterfinals. That game will take place Friday, March 14 in Indianapolis, giving the team a week to rest before tournament play begins.
Things are looking up for the Bruins heading into the tournament, a change in momentum from last season, which ended in a quarterfinals exit out of the Pac-12 tournament. Many doubts were expressed before the season about whether or not they could compete with the powerhouse Big 10. However, with constant perseverance in the face of adversity, UCLA has proven that they can.
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Featured Image courtesy of UCLA Athletics
