UCLA
14-13,9-7Pac-12
USC
11-16,5-11Pac-12
Men's Basketball Falls to USC, 62-56
February 24, 2024 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team dropped a 62-56 decision to USC on Saturday evening in front of a sellout crowd of 13,659 at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
Saturday night's game featured a few substantial scoring runs by both teams. After securing a 33-19 lead, late in the first half, USC saw the Bruins (14-13, 9-7 Pac-12) use a 15-1 scoring run to tie the contest, 34-34, by halftime.
The visiting Trojans (11-16, 5-11 Pac-12) opened the second half on a 10-0 scoring run and never trailed from that point in the game. Leading 44-34 with just over 15 minutes left in regulation, USC pushed its margin up to 13 points (50-37) on a layup by Boogie Ellis with 9:40 remaining.
UCLA cut USC's advantage down to eight points, at 57-49, with 3:25 remaining in the contest. A 3-point basket by Kobe Johnson put the Trojans back ahead by 11 points with just under three minutes to play in the second half.
Ellis scored 18 of his team-leading 24 points in the first half. USC's Isaiah Collier finished with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and Kobe Johnson registered 10 points and four steals.
UCLA had four players who scored in double figures against the Trojans. Adem Bona finished with a team-leading 14 points, while Sebastian Mack had 12 points and Lazar Stefanovic and Aday Mara each netted 10 points. Stefanovic and Brandon Williams grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
"It's a simple game," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "The team that plays harder usually wins. They played much harder than us. They were more physical, they had humility, they came in here looking for redemption. We had no humility. Show me somebody that's not humble and I'll show you somebody getting ready to get humbled. We had our worst week of practice of the season. I failed miserably to get my team ready for the fight that was coming today and I'm thoroughly embarrassed."
Bona finished Saturday night's crosstown rivalry game shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 at the free throw stripe.
The Trojans knocked down 22 of 50 shots (44 percent) from the field, including eight of 18 attempts from 3-point range. The Bruins made 18 of their 54 shot attempts (33.3 percent) and were four of 19 from beyond the 3-point arc. UCLA finished Saturday's game having made 16 of 18 free throw attempts (88.9 percent).
A 3-pointer by Johnson with 5:41 remaining in the first half gave USC its largest lead of the game at 33-19. UCLA controlled the rest of the half, scoring 15 of the final 16 points to tie the score, 34-34, going into halftime. The Bruins made seven of their 11 shots during that scoring run after having converted just four of 18 attempts, leading up to that point.
The Trojans scored the first 10 points of the second half and their lead reached 50-37 with 9:41 to go. UCLA again chipped away at the deficit, but was unable to get closer than the final margin of six points.
UCLA will play two games on the road next week – at Washington on Thursday and at Washington State on Saturday. The Bruins' Pac-12 meeting with Washington on Thursday will begin at 7:30 p.m. (PT). The contest at Washington will be televised on FS1.
The Bruins have four regular-season games remaining before the start of the Pac-12 Tournament. After next week's road contests at Washington and Washington State, UCLA will return home to host Arizona on Thursday, March 7, and Arizona State on Saturday, March 9.
