Sideline and stat standouts in USC’s upset of UCLA

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Typical that even in a 65-55 defeat, UCLA had more interesting stat lines on Friday than USC.

That’s just the way it goes in basketball, very much the opposite of football in this town. Speaking of which, Pete Carroll was in the Staples Center stands at the Pac-10 tournament for the second night in a row. So was Denzel Washington. The Westside Rental Man had good seats but seems to have fallen on hard times, just like the rest of the housing market. There was no cape or shield to be seen, so he danced in his street clothes. Earlier this month he was spotted doing his thing at a high school basketball game in Compton with only 200 people in attendance.

The Los Angeles crowd was predominantly rooting for the Bruins, silenced all night by an upstart Trojans team that hasn’t surrendered a lead for more than 93 minutes of play. Not only did they own this game wire to wire, they did the same against Cal and pulled ahead of Oregon State at the 13:24 mark in the second half of their final regular-season game.

UCLA fans did stand at one point late in the contest to watch security remove some knucklehead. Since this was a Pac-10 event, it’s unknown if officials made the right call. The Worst Judgment Award actually goes to the person who decided to put fans singing (and forgetting) their school fight songs on the jumbotron. It didn’t work last year, and was still painful this year. The in-game Fan Cam kept the timeouts from being a total bust. Props to the cameramen, who had far better shot selections than the Bruins.

There was also a scrape during the evening’s first game when Arizona State beat Washington, 75-65. This one happened on the court. Pac-10 officials gave obvious technical fouls to Sun Devils point guard Derek Glasser and Washington guard Venoy Overton. ASU’s James Harden also got T’d up. He deserved a foul on the initial play, but I’m still not sure how he upgraded to a technical.

The biggest mistake of the night was probably how UCLA attacked -- er, failed to attack -- the rim against the Trojans. Bruins center Alfred Aboya was having a surprisingly effective game against USC’s monster of the midway, a.k.a. Pac-10 defensive player of the year Taj Gibson. Aboya finished with 11 offensive rebounds (13 overall) compared to Gibson’s three (11 overall). But instead of driving the lane, the Bruins pulled up and clanked away, hitting just five of 26 shots from beyond the arc. USC finished with 32 points in the paint compared to 18 for UCLA.

Wait. No. The biggest mistake was letting USC get three rebounds after missing their own free throws. That’s the real reason Ben Howland will have his players running wind sprints this week. Nobody keeps good records on that sort of thing, but an employee who has been with UCLA athletics for three years has never seen it happen that many times in one game. I’ve been watching basketball, at least casually, for a couple decades and can’t recall it ever. Though I do recall Michael Jordan rebounding a Scottie Pippin brick so well that you should watch it three times.

At first glance, USC’s stats seem to reflect a team effort. Upon closer examination, that only applies to the starters. Tim Floyd’s bench accounted for only three points in 17 minutes. Point guard Daniel Hackett acknowledged that he’s starting to feel drained, ‘but then I think about how Syracuse played six overtimes then came back and won tonight. I can’t be tired. Just a little bit sore.’

The Orange won in overtime again on Friday but, unlike Thursday’s epic game against Connecticut, it only took one extra period for them to beat West Virginia.

The Trojans were led by double-doubles from DeMar DeRozan (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Gibson (13 points, 11 rebounds). It was arguably the best game of the year for DeRozan and the 15th double-double for Gibson. The entire UCLA roster has only accounted for six double-doubles this season.

Hackett had a rough assist-to-turnover ratio (four to nine), but also had another moment where he seemed to put the emotional burden of the entire team on his shoulders. It was subtle, but he willed his way to a layup about four minutes into the second half. At the time, UCLA had almost clawed back from an 11-point hole. The play kept momentum in USC’s favor and brought the game back to a seven-point margin. Later, the Trojans would extend their lead to 15.

Ultimately, Friday’s spotlight shined brightest -- and harshest -- on UCLA’s shooting. Entering the tournament with the nation’s best percentage from the field (50.3%), it was bizarre to see them hit only 31% in the first half. It was almost painful to watch them slump further, down to 24.4%, in the second half. They finished 19 of 70. In case you were wondering, 27.1% is bad by any measure, and pathetic for the Bruins. Even Oregon (a lousy team) and Washington State (a defensive team) averaged better than 40% this season.

Bruins guards Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday stank it up the most. Granted, Collison was playing with an injured back and Holiday is a freshmen. But these are UCLA’s superstars -- guys who will play for pay in the not-so-distant future. Collison finished with seven turnovers and went one for nine from the field, 0 for five from beyond the arc. Holiday was almost 0-for-the-game (0 for eight from the field) until he hit one of two free throws with about a minute left.

Neither team is done with their postseason. The Trojans, heavily described as ‘desperate’ over the past few days, will play Arizona State in the final of the Pac-10 tournament. So long as they don’t get blown out by the Sun Devils, USC suddenly has a great chance of making the NCAA tournament. If they win, they get the conference’s automatic bid.

The Bruins will get some much-needed rest (they often struggle when playing games close together) and watch CBS on Selection Sunday to find out where and who they’ll play in the Big Dance. This is a streaky and talented team that could make a deep run, provided Friday didn’t kill their all-important momentum. It also wouldn’t hurt to have Collison back at 100%.

-- Adam Rose