UCLA Men's Basketball Falters Against USC in 5th-Straight Crosstown Rivalry Loss
Like it has the past few times, the crosstown showdown between the Bruins and Trojans came down to a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
This time, it was the blue and gold putting up the desperation heave. Unlike Tahj Eaddy and Ethan Anderson before him, Tyger Campbell's try with time expiring clanked off the back rim, and it was the cardinal and gold who came out victorious.
"Yeah, it felt good and it looked good," Campbell said. "But it didn't go in, so it is what it is."
No. 12 UCLA men's basketball (17-5, 9-4 Pac-12) lost to No. 21 USC (21-4, 10-4) by a score of 67-64 on Saturday night at the Galen Center. The result marked five losses in a row for the Bruins against the Trojans, their longest losing streak in the head-to-head series in over 60 years.
With the largest section in Galen Center history packing the building, the fans stormed the court and mobbed the players and coaches as the tunes and chants blared loudly through UCLA's postgame media availability.
"I don't know why anybody would storm the court for beating us," said coach Mick Cronin, whose team has now lost three out of four.
Cronin has still yet to beat USC since arriving in Westwood.
As close as it got towards the end, UCLA was playing from behind for a lot of the night in a blow-for-blow battle of teams that were both reliant on one player – Tyger Campbell and Drew Peterson. On any other night, that probably would have been forward Isaiah Mobley for USC, but he was out with a concussion Saturday.
Not even 90 seconds after the opening tip, Campbell caught an elbow to the face, which the officials ruled was not a flagrant. The physicality down low highlighted a messy opening stretch that included a pair of missed layups for the Bruins and a handful of turnovers and contested 3-pointers.
UCLA made its first real run with a pair of Campbell jumpers, free throws and fast break scores from guard Johnny Juzang. That stretch only put them up 10-6, though, and it only took USC two minutes before it snatched the lead back.
The Trojans made that leap by hitting 3-pointers, including three in a row from forward Harrison Hornery, guard Reese Dixon-Waters and guard Drew Peterson. USC went up by six when Peterson drilled another triple, but forward Cody Riley immediately answered with his first 3 of the year during a three-minute stretch without a single dead ball.
Peterson stayed hot from three after the media timeout, putting the Trojans up by eight with another 3-pointer a few minutes later while the Bruins continued to miss pull up jumpers and get blocked around the hoop. Campbell went on an 8-0 run all on his own, hitting two 3s and a pair of free throws to tie things up at 31 in the final minute of the first.
"The whole time, I was just worried about winning and keeping us in the game," Campbell said. "Just doing what coach needed me to do."
Peterson drilled a fadeaway jumper to lift USC to a 33-31 halftime lead, nearly matching Campbell's 16 first-half points with 15 of his own in just the opening period. Outside of Campbell, UCLA was shooting 6-of-22 at the break, while USC was shooting 8-of-22 not including Peterson.
The teams combined for one field goal before the under-16 timeout in the second, and it was Peterson who got it to fall. Guard/forward Jaime Jaquez, who was scoreless in the first half, finally got a shot to fall through a foul a minute later. After missing the and-1 free throw, Jaquez got the offensive rebound before Campbell assisted a game-tying 3-pointer by Juzang.
Jaquez scored again in the post, then Campbell hit some more free throws to give the Bruins a brief lead, as Peterson went 1-for-2 at the line on the other end to tie it up at 41 all.
Guard Jaylen Clark, in just his second game back from a concussion that knocked him out of competition for three weeks, got a second-chance bucket to fall the next possession, then eurostepped his way to a fast break layup to make it 45-41.
Forward Max Agbonkpolo got back-to-back buckets to go in the paint, tying it up again and setting Dixon-Waters up for a pair of free throws that put USC back up 47-45 midway through the second half. Guard David Singleton put UCLA back up for a moment, off a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer, which Anderson answered with a triple of his own just seconds later.
Peterson extended the Trojans' lead to four with a spot-up jumper on the wing, then Anderson shook Campbell on the fast break for a layup that got the Galen Center rocking. USC's defense was doing even better, holding UCLA to 1-of-11 shooting until Campbell got an and-1 out of a scoop layup to cut the deficit back to three.
That play may have killed off the crowd noise for a moment, but Peterson went 1-on-1 against Riley and knocked down his fourth 3 of the night to get the home fans back on their feet. Peterson found forward Cheven Goodwin rolling to the hoop for a two-handed slam, which had him backpedalling down the court holding up the "USC" on his chest. When Cronin burned a timeout, Agbonkpolo skipped to center court pumping up the crowd, which was riding a high well on their way to their fifth-consecutive win over their crosstown rival.
Campbell came down and hit two free throws, then Riley did the same to make it 61-57 with 3:27, but a loose ball foul by Jaquez led to some free throws for Goodwin.
Neither team hit a field goal for the four minutes after Goodwin's dunk, a streak ended when Campbell hit a baseline jumper with just over 30 seconds remaining. Juzang hit a technical free throw after Agbonkpolo hung on the rim following a missed dunk, and then Campbell hit some more free throws to make it 65-62 with 17.2 seconds left on the clock.
Campbell stole the botched inbounds pass, giving UCLA a chance to tie things up and potentially force overtime. The point guard's avalanche of points only got his team so far, though, as he bailed out of a step-back 3 in the corner and picked up his fourth turnover of the night in the process.
"Disappointing, but he was the only reason we were in the game," Cronin said. "We had just talked about, when we were down six, you don't take bad 3s. At the end of games, you have to extend the game, you have to score two or three. ... For some reason there, I don't know, he's a great kid, tough situation."
Agbonkpolo got a fast-break layup out of the fiasco, and Juzang's free throws with 2 seconds left only set the Bruins up for more disappointment. Clark tipped the ball to Campbell on the inbounds, and he tossed up the half-court heave that hit off the back rim as the buzzer sounded.
Campbell finished with 27 points, a new career high, while Juzang was the only other Bruin in double figures with 12 on 4-of-16 shooting. Peterson had a career-high 27 of his own on the other end.
UCLA will get back on the court next Thursday at home against Washington State.
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