Thursday, January 21, 1999
UCLA offense puts USC in its place
HOOPS: Bruins apply lessons learned during Stanford game
using three-pointers, field goals
By David Arnold
Daily Bruin Contributor
After pushing down the upstart Trojans 98-80 in their own arena,
do not let anyone doubt UCLA’s offensive abilities again.
Last week, Stanford held the Bruins to 1 of 14 from behind the
arc, but Wednesday night UCLA connected on 62.5 percent of their
season-high 10 treys against USC.
Take into account that the Bruins also made 53.6 percent of
their field goals, and the result is UCLA’s ninth straight win over
their crosstown rival.
"Tonight I think we saw a breakthrough in our offense," said
UCLA coach Steve Lavin. "You could see we learned a lot from the
Stanford game."
"Nobody hesitated on their shots tonight," said Bruin guard
Baron Davis, "but I still think our best ball is yet to come."
In fact, the only thing holding UCLA back from scoring at will
was UCLA itself.
As in the Stanford game, fouls hurt UCLA again. The Bruins gave
Southern Cal 30 points from the charity stripe alone in the form of
31 personal fouls, only four short of the 35 they were called for
against Stanford.
Earl Watson, the only starter not to foul out against the
Cardinal, was pointed to the pine with six and a half minutes
remaining. Freshman Ray Young joined him on the bench just seconds
later, and after talking his way into a technical foul with 2:43
left in the game, Davis became the third Bruin to be dismissed.
Doing their part, the Trojans added Elias Ayuso to the list of
players with five personal fouls
With freshman center Dan Gadzuric limping on a sprained right
ankle, the Bruins found themselves confronting a surging Trojan
team and a fired-up crowd with a limited lineup.
"When we took a time out," Lavin said, "I just told the guys
that teams are gonna make runs at us, we just got to keep our
poise.
Against Oregon, Adam Spanich shot the Trojans to the upset
victory by hitting two three-pointers in the final seconds. But
because USC had to overcome a deficit that grew as large as 25
points, it was never close enough for a repeat of such heroics
against UCLA.
These frequent fouls were, in large part, due to the aggressive
defense of the Bruins. At times going to a four guard lineup, UCLA
found that its tenacious defense forced Southern Cal into more
turnovers (16) than assists (11).
Besides this being a good game for the Bruin defense and a big
game for the offense, it was a huge game for the Bruin
freshmen.
In 32 minutes, forward Jerome Moiso had 17 points and nine
rebounds, and center Gadzuric scored 16 points in just 12
foul-plagued minutes.
Yet, as effective as they were, Lavin would obviously prefer to
see them play more minutes with fewer fouls.
"The whole reason for recruiting them," said Lavin, "was not to
have them sit on the bench."
In addition, forward JaRon Rush had one of his best games as a
Bruin scoring nine from behind the arc and finishing with 11.
"After the first (three-pointer)," said Davis, "I just saw it in
his eyes that he was ready to hit another."
With guard Young shooting a perfect five for five from the field
– including two threes, for 12 points total – the Bruins definitely
found the depth they were looking for.
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