Even though fans booed former USC guard Kobe Johnson, now a senior at UCLA, at every opportunity, it was not enough for the Trojans to secure the win.
USC had home court advantage and was 6-1 at home against UCLA in its last seven games at Galen Center, but none of that mattered as the Trojans fell to the Bruins, 82-76.
UCLA was in control from nearly start to finish, leading for 38 of the game’s 40 minutes.
This was mostly due to the Bruins locking down USC’s leading scorer and junior guard Desmond Claude. Still, Claude found a way to contribute with three assists in the first half.
Even though the Bruins led for most of the opening 20 minutes, the Trojans held their own by minimizing the UCLA lead and exerting themselves tremendously no matter how many minutes they played in head coach Eric Musselman’s small rotation.
Graduate guard Clark Slajchert provided a spark for the Trojans immediately after coming off the bench, putting up five points in seven minutes across the first half.
Senior forward Saint Thomas also had a major impact in the first frame, leading the Trojans in the first half with his 10 points, two assists and two rebounds.
USC went 11-for-31 from the 3-point line. The Trojans don’t usually take that many threes, but that’s what kept them in the game during the first half.
“We knew that they kept the lane compact,” Musselman said. “Without making the threes in the first half, we’re probably down by a much larger margin. But in the second half, there [were] probably three-to-four threes that we shouldn’t have taken.”
The Trojans were struggling with limiting turnovers, which prevented them from taking the lead in the opening 20 minutes. But they inched closer and closer to the Bruins, finding themselves down by just five points going into the second half.
Then, the Trojans started looking vengeful. They were inching away at the lead by making tough shots.
Unfortunately, so was UCLA’s sophomore center Aday Mara, who suddenly seemed to remember that at 7-foot-3, he was about half a foot taller than graduate forward Rashaun Agee, who played most of the game at center for USC. Mara made the second half hard for the Trojans as he finished with his first career double-double, totaling 12 points and 11 rebounds, to go along with five blocks.
But Agee came alive in the second half, scoring 13 points down the stretch and finishing with a career-high 21 points. He held his own against the Bruins even though there was a severe height mismatch between Mara and himself.
“It’s all about strategy,” Agee said. In the postgame press conference, he said his mentality was to “understand the angles of the game,” so he could be successful against the taller player in Mara.
Redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III also had an electric offensive second half, finishing with 19 points.
While Agee, Yates III and Thomas provided the Trojans with all the fuel they needed for a comeback, the Trojans seemed to lose his gas when it came to making free throws.
Collectively they missed five crucial shots from the charity stripe in the last minutes of the eight minutes of the half.
The closest they got to the Bruins was within one point, but due to the missed free throws and other sloppy mistakes, UCLA had room to pull away.
In the end, the game came down to who made the free throws when it counted and that was the Bruins who went 20-for-25 from the line.
“We played super hard. But, close doesn’t count,” Musselman said. “It’s nice, but the objective is to try to win the game”
Next, the Trojans will play against their toughest opponent yet, hosting No. 7 Michigan State on Saturday at Galen Center.