This post was updated March 8 at 8:26 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion’s sweetheart – or better yet, its cariño – pounded the air thrice after watching his ball drop through the net.
The Spanish center hammered down one finger, then two, then three. It was a celebration that deviated from the lighthearted grin that typically accompanies Aday Mara’s buckets.
The Bruins’ fun-loving sophomore center was encased in a sea of red when senior guard Lazar Stefanovic dished the rock to the biggest man in the key. With limbs stretching beyond most defenders’ vision, Mara cheekily contorted through the chaos.
Whistle. And-1.
With his trademark smile that never seems to fade, Mara trotted to the free throw line and converted a three-point play to offer UCLA men’s basketball (22-9, 13-7 Big Ten) a 12-point cushion heading into the half.
It was an advantage the team began growing from the tip – when Tyler Bilodeau let UCLA’s student section hurl scraps of “The Dirt.” But USC (15-16, 7-13) being the ones across court fed the Bruin fire up until the final 90-63 decision.
“I thought we played with tremendous, tremendous conviction to our game plan,” said coach Mick Cronin. “I thought our focus was unbelievable. Defensively, we made it hard on them, extremely hard.”
The cardinal red was a gasoline, a sort of fuel that no other color can create, and it triggered a blistering start from the Bruins. But a lot else was sealed with a UCLA win Saturday night.
A regular-season series sweep over the Trojans. A regular-season finale victory. A sweet trouncing of the Trojans. A double bye in the Big Ten tournament and direct entry to the quarterfinals.
Tick, tick, tick, tick. But those marks – which only grew bolder after 40 minutes of action – were already faint outlines early in Saturday’s affair.
“That’s what happens when you believe in yourself,” said sophomore guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. “As a team, we’ve gone through adversity, ups and downs, and we’ve stayed together through all of it. As a team, we had this mindset: It’s only us in the locker room that really cares about us. And having that mindset leads to the court.”
Bilodeau’s crowd-provoking bucket that first dented the scoreboard came on a sharp baseline route, where the junior forward twisted his body mid-air to scoop the ball up and around USC guard Chibuzo Agbo and finish with a reverse touch.
It prompted a 14-2 Bruin run before Trojan coach Eric Musselman needed to rally his troops.
Cronin, though, ensured his counterpart’s upgraded tactics would have few results. UCLA clutched on to at least a six-point lead – and at most a 36-point margin – through the duel.
“Defensively, we made it hard – extremely hard – took away the things that they’re best at, which is Claude (USC guard Desmond Claude) down the lane, Yates (USC guard Wesley Yates III) down the lane,” said coach Mick Cronin.
Members of UCLA men’s basketball celebrate after trouncing USC in a 90-63 decision Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, earning themselves a double bye in the conference tournament. The Bruins will begin their first Big Ten tournament in the quarterfinal round.
But at no point in those 40 minutes did the tension in Pauley Pavilion reflect the domination on the scoreboard.
Blowouts tend to force an early dismissal of the Bruin faithful – the game cemented, energy dissipated and nothing left to cheer for. But Saturday night defied the norm, as fans demanded more from the crosstown showdown than just a lopsided score.
“We know it’s a big-time game,” said junior guard Skyy Clark. “The combination of the double bye, the rivalry game, the fans, seemed like all of it together, the energy just fed us the entire way.”
Musselman’s extended efforts to regroup his crew again fell through – but only this time, harder and faster than they had before.
USC collapsed into a darker abyss just 3:33 into the second half, its final regular-season game slipping from its grasp as UCLA orchestrated a 13-3 billowing thanks to contributions across the court.
“This is the basketball we know we can play,” Dailey said. “We need to keep playing that brand of basketball once the tournament starts, going into March Madness, and we’re going to go a long way.”
The tidal wave drowned every ounce of hope for a Trojan redemption after Jan. 27’s pummeling.
Dailey – who maintained his early goings with a final 25-point showing off an efficient 10-for-13 shooting – strung together 14 points in the second frame, but it was Clark and sophomore guard Sebastian Mack who brought their offenses alive through the final 20 minutes.
After a made free throw for his first bucket of the night, Mack toyed with USC forward Jalen Shelley, shimmying into a step-back between-the-legs at the top of the key.
He rose, fired and buried a 3 from deep, sealing the show with a dagger-like gesture near his torso as he backpedaled on defense.
That triple put UCLA up 77-49 and fanned the flames of Mack’s – and the team’s – game-ending barrage.
The scoreboard continued to blink Saturday night, but the Trojans looked to be playing a staring contest.
