Defense has been weak spot in losses

Almost unnoticed in UCLA’s rousing 81-74 win over then-fourth-ranked Washington State on Jan. 12 was the fact that the Bruins allowed the Cougars to make 18 of 29 shots from the field in the second half. That’s 62.1%, and such a number is usually unacceptable to Coach Ben Howland.

The Bruins’ defense was just as meek in both halves of Saturday’s 72-63 upset loss to USC at Pauley Pavilion.

According to the official play-by-play, the Trojans had 17 layups or dunks in the game and were 28 for 46 overall (60.9%).

USC freshman Davon Jefferson started the game with a two-handed slam after a Taj Gibson feed, and Dwight Lewis ended the first half with a layup off a steal. O.J. Mayo started the second half with a back-door layup from a Gibson pass, and Jefferson finished the game with a tomahawk dunk.

Alfred Aboya, UCLA’s power forward who usually is the measure of the Bruins defensive intensity, said he was displeased with how often he was beaten by quicker Trojan inside players. He also laid down a challenge for his teammates.

“We didn’t play any defense,” Aboya said. “We forgot how we’ve done it so far. We’re a defensive team, and we got caught up in the hype of the game. We forgot what is our strength. Defensive defense.”

--

Howland likes to have a set and unchanging rotation, and his plan for this season was that Darren Collison, Russell Westbrook, Josh Shipp, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Kevin Love would start and that Michael Roll (at guard), Aboya and Lorenzo Mata-Real (in the post) would be his eight-man rotation. With injuries that have sidelined at various times Collison, Roll, Aboya, Mata-Real and now Roll again indefinitely, the lineup and rotations have been in flux.

On Saturday, Collison became the first player to suggest fatigue might have played a part in the loss.

“I don’t know about fatigue coming in or simply our emotions,” Collison said.

Mbah a Moute and Mata-Real were limited to a minute each in the second half after they suffered first-half concussions.

Love and Westbrook each played 19 of 20 second-half minutes; Collison and Shipp played all 20 minutes. “It was a little wearing,” Shipp said.

“Not having Luc really hurt us,” Love said. “There could have been a little bit of fatigue in some players. In me it wasn’t there. TV timeouts really helped.”

Love also said he didn’t quite agree with his coach that the Bruins played with too much emotion.

“Shouldn’t we have come out with a little more fire in our hearts?” Love asked. “There were times when we were looking at each other like, ‘What’s going on?’ And we had the lead by seven with seven minutes to go and they switched up the tempo a little bit and also they switched up their defense.”

--

Mbah a Moute and Mata-Real, who suffered concussions in the first half against USC, are better and showed improvement Sunday. They will continue to be evaluated on a daily basis.

No decisions have been made as to when they will return to practice.

But Roll, who was without the crutches he had last weekend, didn’t sound optimistic about his continuing recovery from a foot injury that has sidelined him twice and allowed him to play only six games.

“It’s going slow,” Roll said. “Real slow.”

Asked whether he expects to be back this season, Roll paused then said, “I don’t know.”

--

diane.pucin@latimes.com