UCLA Falls Short at Buzzer; Loses to Southern Cal, 67-64
The Bruins spent most of the game trying to catch the Trojans and, in the end, they just couldn't do it.
The UCLA Bruins entered the Galen Center tonight in the midst of a four-game losing streak to Andy Enfield’s Southern Cal Trojans. After tonight’s game, that streak is now up to five games after the Bruins lost, 67-64.
Overall, the game lived up to its billing. The biggest lead of the game by either team was just eight points. So, it was close all game long, even if UCLA only led for 6:57 compared to the Trojans’ time with the lead of 26:20. There were also nine lead changes and the game was tied for 6:43, almost as much time as the Bruins led for.
It just felt like the Bruins were playing from behind the entire night and when they did take the lead, they weren’t capable of holding onto it.
UCLA got on the board first when Tyger Campbell hit a jumper inside the paint. The Trojans came right back to tie it and then take the lead, 4-2. After the first five minutes, the Bruins had an 8-6 edge. With 14:37 left in the half, Johnny Juzang pulled up and gave UCLA a 10-6 lead. That was UCLA’s biggest lead of the game and one they wouldn’t have again until almost midway through the second half.
The rest belonged to Southern Cal. The Trojans took a 12-11 lead with 12:21 to go and, from that point forward, the Bruins would only lead for a total of 18 seconds the remainder of the first half.
To be fair to UCLA, they did manage to keep it close. They never let Southern Cal extend the lead to double digits. The Trojans’ biggest lead of the first half came with 4:49 to go when Drew Peterson buried one of his five three-pointers to stretch their lead to eight points, 27-19. With 2:25 left, the Southern Cal lead was still eight, 31-23.
I’d say that this was the point where the Bruins went on a run, but the reality is that it was Campbell who went on a run for UCLA. Tyger hit a three, a couple of free throws and another three to personally eliminate the Trojans’ lead with just 42 ticks left in the half.
Peterson managed to re-take the lead for Southern Cal with 16 seconds left and the teams went into the locker room with the Bruins down, 33-31.
UCLA fell behind by five in the first three minutes of the second half, but Jaime Jaquez, Jr. brought the Bruins to within three and Juzang tied the game at 37-37 with 15:45 to go in the game. The game was tied at 41 a piece with 13:29 left when UCLA got a pair of baskets from Jaylen Clark to take a four-point lead, 45-41, to tie their biggest lead of the game.
A 6-0 Southern Cal run flipped the script again and left the Bruins down by two when a three from David Singleton put them up 48-47. Unfortunately, this proved to be UCLA’s last lead of the game.
Down the stretch, Southern Cal tried to put the Bruins away. Soon, their lead was up to eight with 4:52 to go and again with 4:22 left.
But the one thing we’ve learned about this UCLA team is that they seem to be at their best when they have to battle from behind. The team never quits and they always seem to fight.
And, fight like hell they did, especially when the Trojan lead was back up to eight, 65-57, with 41 seconds left. Over the next 24 seconds, they cut Southern Cal’s lead back down to three.
UCLA had several chances in the final 17 seconds to tie the game including a three-point shot at the buzzer from Tyger Campbell. He just couldn’t connect as time expired with the final score: Southern Cal 67, UCLA 64.
Campbell led the Bruins with 27 points while Drew Peterson led the Trojans with the same. Johnny Juzang was the only other Bruin in double figures with 12 points while Myles Johnson was an absolute beast underneath grabbing 11 boards in his first rivalry game.
UCLA now returns home for a three-game homestand against the Washington schools and Arizona State, starting on Thursday when Washington State visits Pauley at 8 pm PT.
Go Bruins.
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UCLA is quite frankly, overrated. This season has seen ucla regress across the board as the season goes on. While a loss to usc hurts, it also highlights that ucla just isn’t that good. They are third in the pac-12, right where they belong. A preseason top 5 team, they will end up a 5-7 seed come tournament time.
This game, like the last few, have been extremely painful to watch. Where is the coaching? Where are the easy dunks? The steals that lead to fast break layups? The good passing? Good defensive plays?
The games aren’t fun when ucla is constantly playing down to their opponents level. The win against Arizona was a rare occurrence with cronin who doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of running up a score. He constantly gets a lead only to turn on the brakes.
A magical run in march is now the only thing that can save what has turned into an abysmal season. Why has it come to this?
Defensively, ucla is awful on the switch at the top of the key. Bigs are constantly getting caught double teaming with an easy pass down low or a mismatch that allows a guard to shoot an easy three when the big stays up there. They are also awful at covering the three when there is a dribble drive. Don’t give easy layups, but don’t come in to help a layup attempt only to leave a wide open look.
Offensively, there isn’t a game plan. They spend far too much time going one on one.
As for player grades:
Riley seems to be in better shape. He actually had zero fouls? A miracle. He also made his first three of the season. He seems to have lost a step inside and doesn’t bully on the offensive layups. His defense is still soft and he gets caught out of position at the top of the key.
Myles seems to be getting better, but he is the quintessential “soft” player. Good kid who plays hard but too timid to provide any spark.
Watson is an absolute coaching fail as far as I’m concerned. An athletic player with a massive wing span that has a lot of potential. Was touted as a high first round nba draft pick coming into the season. I’d be shocked if he stays at ucla another season. Hasn’t been developed at all this year and is used sparingly and inappropriately. Should have been coached to be the player that goes up for oops and is under the basket as we saw in the very first game of the season. Instead, he’s put into a black box that doesn’t fit his skill set. Shame on cronin for failing with Watson.
Singleton has continued to be used sparingly in a way that actually fits his style. However, he isn’t used on the pass out play as often as he should be. He’s one of the best 3 pt shooters on the team but rarely used in the drive and dish as it’s not a play the team is coached to look for. On defense he’s gotten better, but he is still too slow to guard an athletic wing.
Nwuba is just another big that always looks lost on the court… but he’s way down the depth so this isn’t surprising.
Jules is a dumpster fire right now. Has been allowed to try and shoot himself out of a slump and it’s not working. He has regressed significantly this season and his shot is a train wreck right now. Defensively he hustles, but is usually out of position. He gets beat to the hoop and is too short to recover.
Juzang is an amazing shooter, but if the rest of the team is struggling, it’s easy to just double team him and get him to force plays that lead to turnovers. His defense is usually meh, but you can tell he’s worked on it this year. UCLA basketball was far more fun to watch when they weren’t so dependent on him early in the season. Now that he’s the go to guy every play, they are easy to defend.
Kyman hasn’t played enough minutes to comment on really. Another player that could go somewhere else to actually develop better. He needs some offensive play sets to allow him shots… ucla doesn’t seem to have anything like that these days.
Jaquez is still hustling but has been inconsistent all season. 2-11 this game isn’t going to cut it. He had some wide open looks and missed them all badly. He looks good defensively and may be ucla best all around player. Shooting like this isn’t going to cut it though.
Clark has played well. He probably needs more play time and development down low as a post player. He plays big and should be athletic enough to at least pass it around. He’s also their best defender and plays so much bigger than he looks.
Campbell comes and goes. This was a game that he played well, but he was also asked to do too much. It’s why he tried to take the final three because he had been the go to guy. Defensively he actually plays well for his size, but he also allows opposing teams to get wide open looks due to his size and inability to fight through the screen. He didn’t get many assists, but that’s a by product of the abysmal shooting display.
UCLA has potential, but this season now needs another miracle March run to save the season. The pac-12 title is out of reach at this point. It shouldn’t come down to a miracle in march to make a good season. The last few weeks have been a train wreck and now cronin needs to actually do some coaching. No more rolling the ball out on the court and letting ucla beat each other up on the court.
Also, spitting on fans? Come on cronin, do better
Jacquez needs to rest for a few weeks. We’ll be fine without him but his ankle has really affected his play - or at least it can’t possibly get any worse than losing 3 of 4.. One of our best players missing point-blank layups and air balling shots in a 3-point loss is definitely cause for concern.
And I agree that Riley’s play has been abysmal. Johnson is rebounding and defending better and he should get the start. But usc had multiple players slap rebounds out of his hands. This is elementary school shit, and Johnson needs to be better at hanging onto the ball.
I don’t agree that there’s no offensive game plan, I said at the beginning of the season that our team will be susceptible to shooting slumps because we are a team of good to great shooters and not much inside presence. Our team won’t much up well with a team that have lengthy defenders like usc. But last night the offensive game plan still lead to open shots and layups that were mostly bricked. The pieces are still there for a good run in the tourney, just need to get our shot back. If it doesn’t come back we’ll be bounced before the end of the first weekend.