Bruins can’t rebound from first-half deficit

  CATHERINE JAYIN JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Trojan
forward Sam Clancy (right) elevates for a shot
over Bruin center Dan Gadzuric in an 81-77 Bruin
loss.

By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

INGLEWOOD “”mdash; The better rebounder gets the win.

Isn’t that how the old adage goes?

Though the final score read 81-77 in favor of the Trojans in
Thursday’s game in front of 15,903 at the Forum, the real
story can be found in the rebounding totals. After just the first
half, USC had out-rebounded UCLA 19-5 ““ in offensive
rebounds. The picture didn’t get any better when the whole
totals are consulted, with the Trojans cleaning the glass 46-33
overall.

“Nineteen has to be some kind of record,” UCLA head
coach Steve Lavin said of the Trojans’ first-half offensive
boards. “Flat out, the game was determined by then. We did a
poor job boxing out, and they did a good job of crashing the
boards. They were playing volleyball on the backboard.”

Going into the game, the No. 11 Bruins (11-3) knew the Trojans
(13-2) would be a quicker team. UCLA had hopes that its size would
be what really mattered. But time and time again, whenever a Bruin
rebounder would get in the air, a Trojan had already corralled the
loose ball. USC’s David Bluthenthal dominated with 18 boards,
while teammate Sam Clancy had 12.

With Dan Gadzuric as the Bruins’ only notable rebounding
force, finishing with 16, UCLA kept giving the Trojans third and
fourth looks.

Forward Matt Barnes didn’t have a great night on the
boards, but he lit the Trojans up for a career-high 34 points,
including a school record-tying seven three-pointers.

  CATHERINE JAYIN JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
Matt Barnes played during the USC-UCLA matchup on
Thursday night. In fact, it was often a Barnes’ three that
kept the Bruins in the game. With 12:20 to go in the first half,
Barnes tied the game, after nailing a shot from beyond the arc,
bringing the score to 22-22. Then he gave back the lead to the
Bruins with his subsequent bucket.

UCLA held that lead for the next two minutes, but once Gadzuric
committed his second foul with 3:59 to go in the first half ““
after which he and point guard Cedric Bozeman settled in on the
bench ““ the Trojans used their speed and athleticism to their
advantage, going on a 12-5 run to close out the half.

“(Barnes) scored a lot of points for us tonight, but we
just couldn’t help him out defensively,” guard Billy
Knight said.

Bozeman, in his third game back from injury, saw just seven
minutes, during which he contributed just one assist. It was
off-set by his one turnover.

Which raises the ever-haunting question ““ how can the
Bruins, without a fast point guard, beat a fast team with a quick
point guard?

Brandon Granville contributed 18 points, three assists and three
rebounds in his 33 minutes for the Trojans. Not only that, but he
was a steady go-to guy for them.

With forward Jason Kapono shouldering much of the point guard
duties, the Bruins still got 13 points from him.

And despite the lopsided rebounding statistics, the Bruins were
still in it until the end.

The last four and a half minutes were really all anyone needed
to see.

The Bruins, trailing since five minutes to go in the first half,
fought back with the help of another Barnes three-pointer with 4:20
to go to even the score at 62.

Then the Trojans showed signs of putting the game away with a
seven-point lead and just over a minute to go.

But the Bruins couldn’t be counted out just yet.

With just 1:11 on the clock, Kapono brought the ball up-court
and dished it to the shooter, Barnes, who put up his seventh
three-pointer of the night, bringing the score to 73-69.

But just as quickly as Barnes’ shot slipped through the
net, he rocketed a pass behind Kapono on the next possession that
flew into the scorer’s table.

Kapono hit a three on the Bruins’ next possession to bring
the Bruins within two with 11 seconds on the clock.

But Rico Hines was whistled with an intentional foul, sending
Granville to the line. Granville hit both his shots, sealing the
Trojans’ first victory over the Bruins since 2000.

“It’s just another basketball game. This game is no
more important than Washington or Washington State,” USC head
coach Henry Bibby said. “We did what we needed to do at home.
From the standpoint of taking the conference lead, it’s a
good win.

“Everyone predicted them to win tonight, but they have to
come back to our place on Feb. 6,” Barnes said. “We
have to shake this off.”

The Bruins face off against the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (13-1) on
Saturday. Kansas’ only loss came in their opening game
against Ball State in the Maui Invitational. Tip-off is at 12 p.m.
at Pauley Pavilion.

Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;

Bozeman was the only player who was able to contain Granville.
Despite being 6-feet-7 inches his swift lateral movement allowed
him to keep pace with the 5-9 Granville. Bozeman’s height
forced Granville to alter his shots and made him offensively
ineffective during the seven minutes that Bozeman was on the court.
“I need to increase his minutes,” Lavin said… The
last time that the Trojans swept the Bruins was in 1992, and USC
has won both games against UCLA in a season twice since 1962… USC
now trails UCLA 118-94 in the overall series… With the win USC
takes a 25-15 lead in the Lexus Gauntlet competition.

With contributions from Dylan Hernandez and Jeff Agase, Daily
Bruin Senior Staff.