UCLA’s Skyy Clark drives down the court as USC’s Saint Thomas defends during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Desmond Claude passes the ball as UCLA’s Aday Mara defends during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Dylan Andrews drives to the basket as USC’s Chibuzo Agbo tries to work around a screen from UCLA’s William Kyle III during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Josh Cohen, bottom, tries to keep the ball from UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr., right, and Kobe Johnson during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC head coach Eric Musselman reacts on the sideline during their game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Aday Mara loses the ball as USC’s Josh Cohen defends during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Aday Mara loses the ball as USC’s Josh Cohen defends during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin reacts on the sideline during their game against USC on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s William Kyle III, center, tries to maintain possession of the ball as USC’s Desmond Claude, right, and Saint Thomas, left, defend during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s William Kyle III gets to the basket for a layup during the first half of their Big Ten game against USC on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Aday Mara, right, controls the ball in front of USC’s Rashaun Agee during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
USC head coach Eric Musselman reacts on the sideline during their game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Aday Mara, top, USC’s Rashaun Agee, right, and USC’s Desmond Claude (1) battle for a rebound during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Chibuzo Agbo, left, knocks the ball away from UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Desmond Claude, bottom right, tries to keep the ball from UCLA’s Trent Perry, top right, and Lazar Stefanovic, left, during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Aday Mara looks to pass the ball as USC’s Wesley Yates III, left, and Rashaun Agee, right, defend during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Rashaun Agee, right, fouls UCLA’s Aday Mara during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Wesley Yates III handles the ball as UCLA’s Trent Perry defends during the second half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Rashaun Agee gets to the basket for a layup during the second half of their Big Ten game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Wesley Yates III (6) gets fouled by UCLA’s Kobe Johnson, back center, as UCLA’s William Kyle III, left, also defends during the second half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Wesley Yates III drives through traffic during the second half of their Big Ten game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Wesley Yates III goes up for a shot as UCLA’s William Kyle III, left, defends during the second half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin reacts on the sideline during their game against USC on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Wesley Yates III handles the ball during the second half of their Big Ten game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Desmond Claude goes up for a shot as UCLA’s William Kyle III, left, defends during the second half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Rashaun Agee gets high-fives from fans after scoring during the second half of their Big Ten game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Rashaun Agee gets high-fives from fans after scoring during the second half of their Big Ten game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Aday Mara, right, grabs a rebound in front of USC’s Rashaun Agee, center, during the second half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC head coach Eric Musselman reacts on the sideline during their game against UCLA on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC’s Desmond Claude drives to the basket as UCLA’s William Kyle III, left, and Eric Dailey Jr., right, defend during the second half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Sebastian Mack controls the ball as USC’s Wesley Yates III defends during the second half on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
UCLA’s Trent Perry, center, and Kobe Johnson, right, applaud from the bench as the Bruins close out a victory over USC in a Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
USC players watch from the bench during the final minute of their loss to UCLA in a Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
UCLA’s Kobe Johnson (0) reacts on the bench as the Bruins close out a victory over USC in a Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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UCLA’s Skyy Clark drives down the court as USC’s Saint Thomas defends during the first half of their Big Ten game on Monday night at the Galen Center. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
LOS ANGELES — Two and a half minutes remained, and Eric Musselman believed in his heart he was going to win.
His kingdom did, too, as a motley crew of USC transfer-portal imports whittled away at rival UCLA’s double-digit lead on Monday night. Fans at the Galen Center stood, enraptured. Players on the hardwood sneered and snarled and flexed, emboldened. After his layup cut UCLA’s lead to two points with 2:39 left, USC guard Wesley Yates III nodded his head at any teammate in the vicinity. After he grabbed a rebound and got fouled to set up potential go-ahead free throws, USC forward Saint Thomas slapped hands on the baseline with USC assistant athletic director Gavin Morris. A home-court rivalry win, for first-year head coach Musselman, was right there.
But these Bruins didn’t falter, as the rim faltered on Thomas. His first free throw hit off the iron. His second free throw hit off the iron. And 30 seconds later, guard Sebastian Mack, shooting 28% from 3-point range for his career, launched a late-shot-clock moonbeam that arched high over a buzzing USC crowd.
It slashed the net like a dagger, giving UCLA a four-point lead with 1:08 left and helping squelch the hopes Musselman and USC had for an upset. The Bruins made six free throws over the final minute to close out a hard-fought 82-76 win in a crosstown thriller.
Minutes later, Mack and Eric Dailey Jr. – the Bruins’ top two scorers with 14 and 16 points, respectively – bounded into the locker room with a bellow.
“Walk into your trap, take over your trap!”
Two weeks ago, amid a four-game losing slide out of the AP Top 25, UCLA coach Mick Cronin’s blunt dissatisfaction with his players’ effort made waves. The toughest guy in the room can’t be me every day, he vented after a blowout loss to Michigan on Jan. 7. Since, faced with an inflection point in their season and potentially in Cronin’s tenure, UCLA (15-6 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) has hung tough across four straight gritty conference wins, another high coming in enemy territory on Monday night.
“I can want to win all I want, okay?” Cronin said after Monday’s win, in a nod to his comments earlier in January. “The hungry dog gets the bone. The hungry dog gets the bone.”
The Bruins were ravenous, from Skyy Clark and Dylan Andrews pressuring USC lead guard Desmond Claude for 90 feet from the opening tip, from the Bruins lacing up when Andrews cramped up with five minutes left and was subbed. Suddenly, the Bruins were down their lead guard in Andrews (excellent on Monday, with 12 points and six assists) and top scorer Tyler Bilodeau, who was scratched with an ankle injury. USC (12-8, 4-5) had all the momentum, steadily roaring back from what had been a 12-point second-half deficit, reserve big Rashaun Agee continuing a stretch of sparkplug play in motoring down the lane to finish with a season-high 21 points.
As the Bruins continued to sell out on USC leading scorer Claude, who finished with a muted 12 points, Agee took a pass from Claude and finished an and-one layup to cut UCLA’s lead to three with 5:13 left. In a harbinger of struggles to come, though, Agee missed the free throw. And the Bruins’ other offensive options stepped up to keep the Trojans at bay, with a big 3-pointer from Dailey with 3:46 remaining and Mack’s bomb to put UCLA up 76-72 with 1:08 left.
“They’re trapping – they’re in DEFCON 5, running around, trapping us, without our main point guard out there,” Cronin said. “We staved it off and won.”
Seven-foot-3 center Aday Mara, starting in place of Bilodeau, took over the game for stretches in the second half, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots to continue a stretch of standout play. USC transfer Kobe Johnson, enduring a wave of boos every time he touched the ball, hit a big 3-pointer midway through the second half. And 6-3 guard Clark, pesky as ever in containing Claude, got two offensive rebounds on one second-half possession to set up an Andrews jumper.
“He’s just a winner,” Cronin said of Clark.
As the Bruins kept the wheels on in the second half, the Trojans out-executed them at times, finding consistent gaps in UCLA’s traps either through the rolling Agee or 3-pointers from the corners. Burgeoning young guard Yates finished with 19 points and four 3-pointers, and Thomas added a bit of everything with 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
But free throws doomed these Trojans, USC finishing just 11 for 19 from the line, Musselman lamenting that they had only drawn 19 free throws in the first place against an aggressive UCLA defense. Afterward, Musselman pointed to UCLA’s continuity – with returning players like Mara, Mack and Andrews – and USC’s lack of it, as Cronin praised his crosstown rival for having a “hell of a year” despite having to piece together an entirely new roster.
“We’ll see where we are in five years,” Musselman said. “I don’t know. Hopefully, I’m still sitting here, we have a team that can play in (NCAA Tournament) Sweet Sixteens.”
“But I don’t know,” he continued. “We’ll see. Hopefully, history repeats itself.”
Staff contributor Aaron Heisen contributed to thisstory.
