Los Angeles-The USC Trojans ( 11-16,5-11 Pac-12) avenged their home loss to their crosstown rival UCLA( 14-13,9-7 Pac-12) with a 62-56 victory on the road in Pauley Pavilion.
Fifth year senior Boogie Ellis who called his squad out for lack of pride in January after their home loss to UCLA led USC in scoring with 24 points, going 9 of 18 from the field for 50%.
“Feels good, You know my first time winning here but it great for my last UCLA game to get a W” Ellis said post game after securing his first road victory in the Battle of LA.
Freshman Isaiah Collier finished the game with 11 points and four assists for the Trojans.
USC’s came out motivated and competed on both ends of the floor. Adem Bona who grabbed 10 rebounds in their last matchup was held to only three rebounds and Dylan Andrews who scored 20 points in Galen was held scoreless throughout the contest.
“Our guys had a great week of practice, they competed tonight and defensively we made a lot of improvements” said Head Coach Andy Enfield postgame.
Enfield with the win tied Bob Boyd for third on the program’s all-time coaching win list with 216th victory.
USC shot 46% from the field on 12 of 26 shooting from the field and shot 53% from long range nailing 7 of 13 three-point attempts in the first half.
UCLA shot 37% in the first half on 11 of 29 shooting from the floor and an underwhelming 27% from behind the arc but closed out the half on a 9-0 that knotted things at 34-34 at halftime.
In the second half USC kept applying the defensive pressure, their defense led to a 16-3 run that had UCLA playing from behind the rest of the contest. USC shot 41% from the field in the half and finished the game shooting 44% from the field and 44% from the three-point line.
UCLA’s offensive woes continued as they struggled to deal with USC’s pressure defense. The Bruins shot a disappointing 28% from the field in the second and concluded the game shooting 33% from the field and 21% from three.
“It’s a simple game, the team that plays harder usually wins. They played much harder than us,” UCLA Head Coach Nick Cronin said. “We had our worst week of practice of the season. I failed miserably to get my team ready for the fight that was coming and I’m thoroughly embarrassed.”
USC now prepares to head to Washington where they will take on No. 21 Washington State on Thursday.
