This post was updated Jan. 27 at 12:40 a.m.

UCLA had been in this spot before. 

Up big at the half, all the momentum in the world, a reeling rival in the opposing locker room.  

Three weeks ago, the Bruins ran into the halftime locker room up by 18 against the Trojans. What happened next? They came out with arguably their worst half of the season, clinging to a win thanks to some late-game heroics from junior guard Jaylen Clark.

There was no Clark miracle Thursday night – no cape, no grand entrance, no hero. 

Instead, just a Bruin team that fell flat on its face. 

No. 8 UCLA men’s basketball (17-4, 8-2 Pac-12) lost to crosstown rival USC (15-6, 7-3) by a score of 77-64 Thursday night at the Galen Center, marking the blue and gold’s fifth straight road loss to its rival. The Bruins led by double digits at halftime, but were outscored 52-27 in the second half. 

“We just got out-toughed,” said senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. “In the second half we didn’t come ready – sort of like the game at home.”

UCLA trailed USC in nearly every statistical category in the second half, a frame it lost by 25 points. The Bruins shot 29.6% from the field compared to the Trojans’ 55.6% mark and lost the turnover disparity 8-2, giving UCLA more turnovers than its opponent for the first time all season. 

USC went on three separate unanswered runs of five points or more and held UCLA to just six points in the half’s first 10 minutes. 

“When that happens, you can’t expect a different result than what happened tonight,” Jaquez said.

An up-and-down first half ended on a high note for the blue and gold. UCLA’s 14-2 run midway through the frame gave the Bruins the advantage, a lead they would later extend all the way to 12 by the halftime buzzer. 

But avid watchers of the crosstown rivalry know no lead is safe. 

“The second half, that seems to be a problem for us,” said fifth-year guard David Singleton. “In the second half, we have to come out with more intensity to meet people’s intensity. We have to be ready.”

In the blink of an eye, there was no Bruin advantage. 

It started slow, and then happened all at once. After some back and forth between the two teams, USC found its groove, and the Galen Center crowd followed suit. 

“You can’t turn the ball over on the road,” coach Mick Cronin said. “It’s like gas on the fire.”

Back-to-back 3s from USC guards Tre White and Boogie Ellis ignited the USC crowd, the latter triple coming off a turnover from Jaquez. A furious Cronin was forced to call a timeout as UCLA’s lead was cut to just one less than six minutes into the half. 

Cronin’s stoppage of play couldn’t stop the Trojan momentum – nor could it stop more Bruin mistakes. A few possessions later, Ellis jumped in front of an ill-advised pass from redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell, starting a two-on-one fastbreak in which he found guard Reese Dixon-Waters for a euro-step layup in transition. 

“We can’t just turn the ball over like we did in the second half,” Jaquez said. “We’re a team that usually takes care of the ball. When you don’t, bad things happen.”

USC had its first lead of the second half – and it wasn’t going anywhere. 

Ellis toyed with Jaquez on the Trojans’ next offensive possession, throwing together a flurry of dribble moves before stepping back and drilling a triple over Jaquez’s outstretched arm. More feverous cheers from the Trojan faithful. More of a collapse from the blue and gold.

The USC guard had just four points on 0-of-5 shooting from deep in the first half but found his rhythm to drain the Bruins in the second. 

“We played him soft and he made us pay,” Cronin said. “That’s what he does if you play him soft.”

USC guard Kobe Johnson followed it up with a 3 of his own, and UCLA faced its largest deficit of the game at seven points after the 25-6 Trojan run.

Ellis eventually drove the final stake into the coffin. The guard scored 18 points in the game’s final 12 minutes, including a dagger side-step 3 over freshman guard Amari Bailey that all but ended the game. 

He finished with a game-high 31 points and six assists, with 27 points on 10-of-10 free throw shooting and 3-of-4 from deep in the second half. 

“He’s just doing what Boogie does,” Singleton said. “He’s not a good player, he’s a great player.”

Cronin summed up the game simply. 

“They turned up the heat, they created deflections, we didn’t handle it and they got going,” Cronin said. “Once they got going, the crowd got behind them, they made some unguardable shots and they won the game.”