UCLA backs coach with big win

DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior guard Ray
Young tracks the ball in the Bruins’ 80-75 victory over
USC Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA 80 USC 75
MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Villanova
Saturday 1 p.m. Pauley Pavilion Radio: 1150 AM TV: CBS channel
2

By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff

After UCLA’s 80-75 upset victory over No. 18 USC, the
Bruins didn’t have much to say about the Rick Pitino
rumors.

They didn’t have to; they did all their talking on the
court.

Two days after UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis fueled
speculation that Bruin head coach Steve Lavin might be on the hot
seat, the Bruins responded with their most inspired game to
date.

Behind a suffocating full-court press that forced 28 Trojan
turnovers, UCLA (8-4) won its fourth game in a row and six of its
last seven games.

Led by forward Jason Kapono’s 20 points and 9 rebounds,
thursday’s win puts UCLA atop the Pac-10 standings at 3-0
with Villanova coming to Pauley on Saturday.

USC fell to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

“I don’t think (the Pitino rumors) played into this
game at all,” UCLA senior guard Jason Flowers said. “We
addressed it as a team and we moved on. The big thing was we were
playing ‘SC and there’s not much needed to rally for a
USC game.”

UCLA point guard Earl Watson, who finished with 17 points, 4
steals, and zero turnovers, said the embattled Lavin was the
difference on Thursday night.

“The amazing thing was that coach showed no effects from
the rumors,” Watson said. “He prepared us for USC
instead of worrying about all the rumors. It showed tonight because
he took us to another level.”

Lavin pointed to his players’ ability to concentrate in
the middle of adversity.

“I think our kids did a great job of focusing on the
challenge at hand,” he said. “Hats off to the kids.
Admirable effort and concentration considering some of the
distractions. That’s what’s great about kids; they are
very resilient.”

After going into halftime up 46-39, the Bruins used their press
to go on a 16-6 run.

Watson was a key part of the run, finding several players open
on the break.

But the Trojans refused to go down easily. Behind an assortment
of dunks and short jump hooks from forward Sam Clancy, who finished
with a game high 31 points, USC slowly crawled back into the
game.

The combination of UCLA going ice cold from the field and a very
dominant Clancy helped USC cut the Bruins lead to three, 78-75,
with 32 seconds left.

Trojan Brian Scalabrine, who came into the game as USC’s
second leading scorer but finished with just four points because of
foul trouble, missed on a three point attempt with 12 seconds
left.

Teammate David Bluthenthal corralled the rebound but also
misfired on his three-point attempt. Kapono grabbed his rebound and
after immediately being fouled, sank both of his free throws to ice
the game.

“When you come over here you know you’re in a
battle,” USC head coach Henry Bibby said. “We know they
are well coached. We know they have been playing well.

“They won the game. Deservingly they won the
game.”

After the game, UCLA guard Ray Young said his team can’t
worry about rumors and innuendos and just have to go play.

“We can’t sit here and worry about something
that’s going to happen next year or not,” he said.
“Coach Lavin is our coach. He’s the reason everyone
came to play here.

“We just put that behind us and worried about
USC.”

There were quite a few fireworks at the beginning of the game.
Just 52 seconds into the contest, UCLA center Dan Gadzuric sent
Trojan forward Desmond Farmer sprawling to the ground with a hard
foul.

USC teammate Scalabrine immediately got into Gadzuric’s
face and both players were assessed fouls.

Just 40 seconds later, Watson shoved Bluthenthal into the
scorer’s table after both players went after a loose
ball.

After a shouting match, Watson was given a flagrant foul and
Bluthenthal a technical foul.