LOS ANGELES — Mick Cronin’s idea of a complete game is one in which the UCLA men’s basketball team dominates the possession battle. That can be accomplished, Cronin believes, by winning the turnover margin and grabbing more rebounds than the opponent.
The Bruins had won 10 of their last 13 games entering Saturday night, but Cronin felt they hadn’t delivered such a performance since their win against Michigan State on Feb. 4. It’s performances like those, Cronin has said, that the Bruins will need to propel a postseason run.
They certainly got one on Saturday in a 90-63 win over USC (15-16, 7-13) that pushed UCLA (22-9, 13-7) into fourth place in the Big Ten. UCLA won the turnover margin by eight, scoring 37 points off the 20 turnovers it created. The Bruins couldn’t do much to control the offensive glass because they shot 37-of-60 (61.7%) from the field. UCLA also outscored USC 42-17 in points in the paint.
The Bruins could have boosted their overall resume had they pulled out a nip-and-tuck victory, which would have kept their win at USC on Jan. 27 in Quad 1. Instead, they produced an end-to-end, tip-to-finish statement victory over their crosstown rival. The win, along with Wisconsin’s loss to Penn State earlier today, pushed UCLA into the final double-bye for the Big Ten Tournament.
USC struggled to move the ball and rarely penetrated the lane with clean drives as UCLA’s defense suffocated them.
Eric Dailey Jr. led UCLA with a career-high 25 points, but Cronin said post-game that he was more delighted with Dailey’s nine deflections. Skyy Clark led the team with 13 deflections and Cronin said the team racked up the most in any Big Ten game this season.
Dailey grabbed three steals in the first half, turning two of them into fast-break layups. Clark moved his feet to stay in front of the Trojans’ ball-handlers, drawing offensive fouls against Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates.
Claude, the Trojans’ leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, couldn’t overcome Clark’s pesky defense. Yates accepted his fate and settled for 3-pointers, knocking down three in the first half to keep USC in it.
Yates led USC with 21 points and earned high praise from Cronin, who referred to the freshman as the Trojans’ best player
The Bruins ended the half on an 11-4 run as Dailey answered Yates’ third 3-pointer with a triple of his own. Aday Mara followed that with a layup, then Dailey drove the baseline, tossed a wild pass to Dylan Andrews, who saved the play by dishing it to Clark for a corner 3. Mara added three more points the old-fashioned way, trickling in an and-one hook-shot that inspired one of the loudest cheers from the Pauley Pavilion crowd this season, while Dailey broke out a rock-the-baby dance move.
UCLA started the second half on a 13-3 run as Dylan Andrews dribbled into a right-wing three that pushed the lead to 50-30. Dailey scored eight of the next 11 points, including a pair of threes and a transition layup.
With UCLA holding a lead of 20-plus points for most of the second half, USC head coach Eric Musselman opted to unload his bench, subbing in freshman Jalen Shelley and reserve guard Clark Slajchert.
They didn’t stand much of a chance against the length and athleticism of Dailey and Mara, nor the precision of Clark.
In the second half, Clark showed his worth offensively. He hit a pair of step-back 3-pointers and cut backdoor for a layup off a pass from Mara.
In recent weeks, Clark, Mack and Kobe Johnson were asked questions about if UCLA had another gear it could take things to down the stretch.
Each answered, definitively, emphasizing that it was just a matter of time and that it would come on the back of complete performances from a rebounding and defensive standpoint.
Saturday’s showing was the first sign of that next gear.