"We want to show we can compete with USC."

Embarrassing loss fuels UCLA's fire for rematch with USC
By Jon Gold, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Daily News
Updated: 02/11/2010 11:21:39 PM PST


At first, they said it was frustrating, disappointing, sad.

UCLA's 67-46 loss to USC on Jan.16, though, was so much more.

In the postgame press conference, head coach Ben Howland called it embarrassing.

It took some time for the players to share his sentiment.

The Bruins eventually realized the depth of the loss - not just the team's worst to its crosstown rivals in more than 60 years, not just its worst ever to the Trojans at Pauley Pavilion, but a cause for shame.

Preparing to face USC again, this time at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Galen Center, the wound is fresh in their minds.

"The initial reaction is just disappointment," said senior forward James Keefe, who had five points and four rebounds that day. "We had such a good crowd, the school was into it and then we come out and put up that performance. It was just disappointing, and it was embarrassing. A rivalry game ... it's more than just for the team. It's for the school, it's for the fans, it's for everyone, all the alumni.
"To come up short like we did, it was embarrassing."

UCLA didn't just come up short, though. The Bruins were smacked across the face by Murphy's Law.

Whatever could go wrong did. Poor rebounding begat poor passing, which begat poor shooting.

USC shot 52 percent to UCLA's 33 percent. The Trojans had 37 rebounds; the Bruins had 22.

It was, Howland said, "a low point."

After a low point, there's nowhere to go but up.

UCLA is 4-2 since and still plagued by some of the same inconsistencies that spelled doom against USC, but the Bruins have thrust themselves back into the Pacific-10 Conference picture and are tied with four other teams (including the Trojans) for second in the conference.

All it took was one bad, bad, bad day. It just took a little time to realize how bad.

"We definitely had to process it," said senior guard Michael Roll, who leads the team in scoring at 13.6points per game. "A lot of times right after the game, you're just thinking about certain parts of it, not the final score. We were just in an intense battle. Looking back on it, yeah it was pretty bad. They got us pretty good."

They've had time to set up the table to be turned, though.

With no Thursday game this week and eight days between games, the Bruins had ample time to ready themselves for the USC.

As when they prepared for the Trojans last time, though, they're coming off a disappointing loss.

UCLA faced USC the first time after a 70-59 loss to Stanford. The Bruins now are reeling from a 72-58 loss to Cal.

Things have changed a bit since then.

UCLA has played zone defense almost exclusively in the past few weeks while addressing a lack of athleticism.

Howland, though, said the team would have to play some man-to-man against the Trojans, and the extra time this week would help.

"We have a whole week to get prepared for them, and we're going to be talking about everything they did well," Roll said. "Them beating us on our home court like they did didn't sit well with us."

It still doesn't.

The Bruins played the revenge card to perfection at a Tuesday press conference and said just enough to reveal their desire to settle the score but not enough to imply they are pinning all their hopes and dreams on this game.

"When a team beats you, you kind of have something to prove, especially when you have an embarrassing loss like that," said freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt, who is averaging 10 points and 7.5 rebounds in his past four games. "We're definitely not trying to do that again.

"We want to show we can compete with USC."