UCLA Men's Basketball Drops Another Game, Blows Lead to Rival USC

The Bruins' three-game winning streak against the Trojans got snapped as they lost their second-straight Pac-12 contest in a row.
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For the second matchup in a row, the Bruins couldn't hold onto a sizable second half lead against the Trojans.

And while they were able to claw their way back and steal the win three weeks earlier, the blue and gold didn't have the same luck on the road Thursday night.

No. 8 UCLA men's basketball (17-4, 8-2 Pac-12) once again held a double-digit halftime advantage over USC (15-6, 7-3 record), only for their crosstown foe to completely erase it and wrestle away control. Last time, the Bruins escaped with a two-point win at Pauley Pavilion, but they fell 77-64 in the rematch at the Galen Center.

UCLA had won its last three games against USC, but falls to 3-6 against their rivals and 0-4 at the Galen Center under coach Mick Cronin.

After opening the second half on a 19-6 run in the Jan. 5 showdown, the Trojans staged a 25-3 run on Thursday. Premier shotmaking from their star players helped them take control, all while the Bruins couldn't create anything until it was far too late.

Guard Boogie Ellis scored 31 points, 27 of which came in the second half. As a team, UCLA also scored 27 points in the second half.

Meanwhile, the Bruins shot 29.6% after the break, with guard Tyger Campbell, guard Jaylen Clark and center Adem Bona combining to go 0-for-6 from the field. Clark finished the night 0-for-7 with three points.

Guard David Singleton, who came alive from deep in the first, went 2-for-7 from the field and 1-for-4 from beyond the arc in the second.

The final 15 minutes spoiled what looked to be a big bounce back win for UCLA, considering they had to fend off some big USC runs to assert their lead.

After trading buckets early, the Bruins and Trojans went back-and-forth with runs that relied heavily on 3-pointers, lockdown defense and opponents' unlucky misses.

Two straight 3-pointers by guards Reese Dixon-Waters and Kobe Johnson put USC up by six, but Campbell ended that 7-0 run with a triple of his won. UCLA punched back with an 11-0 run not long after, all while USC saw two shots go in-and-out during a 7:26 scoreless streak.

The Bruins, suddenly, held a six-point lead themselves, until guard Drew Peterson drilled a 3-pointer and center Vincent Iwuchukwu hit a jumper of his own. Again, though UCLA answered with a 10-0 run to go up by 11 thanks to 3-pointers by Campbell and Singleton.

Singleton missed his first two 3-pointers of the night – extending his cold streak to 4-for-20 over his last five games – but he recovered with back-to-back triples, plus a stepback longball with less than a minute left in the half.

Campbell's pullup jumper with six seconds left put UCLA up 37-25 at the break. The Bruins entered Thursday 13-1 when they led at the half.

UCLA extended that lead to 13 points when Singleton hit another 3-pointer early in the second, making it four makes in a row for the fifth-year guard. 

It took over 23 minutes of gametime, but the Trojans finally hit their first layup of the night. They weren't making much of an effort before that – only attempting two in the first half – but the USC offense did start to come alive when they added that dimension to their game.

The Trojans staged a 13-1 run by hitting five field goals and three 3-pointers in a row, all while the Bruins missed five shots in a row and committed three turnovers.

Guard/forward Jaime Jaquez ended the scoring drought with a layup, only for Ellis to come right back down and hit for for USC. Ellis stole a pass from Campbell and hit Dixon-Waters for a fastbreak layup that put the Trojans up 44-43.

Ellis took it one step further with a heat check 3-pointer from NBA distance, knocking it down to accentuate the run. When Johnson hit a corner 3 on an ensuing fast break, the Galen Center erupted as their team flipped a 13-point deficit into a seven-point advantage.

The run didn't end there, either, as UCLA continued to turn the ball over and give USC free points. 

What was once a 40-27 game was suddenly 52-43 going the other direction.

Singleton and Jaquez each hit baseline jumpers to stem the bleeding, sparking a run that got UCLA right back into it. Singleton missed back-to-back 3s, but guard Amari Bailey cleaned one up with a second-chance layup to cut the gap back down to three.

Two free throws and a midrange jumper put USC up by seven, though. When the Bruins tried to answer, Bailey and Clark each missed bunnies from underneath the hoop.

Bailey sank a 3-pointer on a drive-and-kick from Campbell, and Jaquez went 2-for-2 from the line to make it a one-score game.

Ellis was having no part of that, however, swishing a stepback right in Jaquez's face. USC's point guard had six second-half field goals to that point, while UCLA had six as a team.

Campbell again answered with free throws, only for Peterson to hit a midrange jumper over Bona. Naturally, it was Ellis who sank the dagger 3-pointer with 1:25 left to play.

The Bruins lost the turnover battle to the Trojans by four, an uncharacteristic performance from them in terms of possession creation.

This marks the second time this season UCLA has lost back-to-back games, with Thursday's game just five days removed from their loss to Arizona in Tucson. The last time the Bruins faced that adversity, though, they rattled off 14 wins in a row.

UCLA has the rest of the weekend off, and will resume play Feb. 2 at Pauley Pavilion versus Washington. That game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be televised on FS1.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon was the Publisher and Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s All Bruins from 2021 to 2023. He is now a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s Fastball. He previously covered UCLA football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country and golf for The Daily Bruin from 2017 to 2021, serving as the paper's Sports Editor from 2019 to 2020. Connon has also been a contributor for 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' BruinBlitz, Dash Sports TV, SuperWestSports, Prime Time Sports Talk, The Sports Life Blog and Patriots Country, Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s New England Patriots site. His work as a sports columnist has been awarded by the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon graduated from UCLA in June 2021 and is originally from Winchester, Massachusetts.