Look Who’s Talking After Losing to USC

After UCLA was upset by USC last month at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins didn’t take the loss well.

“To lose to a team like them in our gym is a joke,” Don MacLean said. “There’s no way that should happen. . . .

“On their best day, they shouldn’t be able to beat us.”

USC didn’t forget.

The Trojans wore MacLean’s comments on their T-shirts in Thursday night’s 83-79 victory over UCLA at the Sports Arena.

If USC was trying to teach a lesson, UCLA didn’t learn it.

They reacted bitterly again.

“That’s overrated,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said of the motivational tactic used by USC Coach George Raveling, whose team has won four of the past five meetings in this series. “That’s high school stuff. Locker-room stuff doesn’t beat you. Rebounding beats you.

“Nothing they put on the (chalk) board beats you.”

The Bruins were reluctant to give the Trojans much credit.

UCLA guard Gerald Madkins, usually gracious, suggested that inconsistent officiating by the crew of Bob Garibaldi, Robert Sitov and Charles Range had as much to do with the outcome as USC’s inspired play.

“We try to play with some tenacity and we get penalized for it,” said Madkins after UCLA, which was trying to catch up in the last 25 minutes, was called for 10 more fouls than the Trojans and was outscored at the foul line by 10 points. “It’s just a joke.

“Give all the credit in the world to SC. They played their (butts) off. Those guys are a very good team. I have no problem with them beating us on the up and up. But . . . after while it just gets tiring when you get beat up night after night.”

Madkins was especially upset by a call made by Range with 7:02 to play and UCLA trailing, 68-63, after rallying from a 14-point deficit. USC’s Harold Miner took an entry pass in the low post and appeared to travel as he attempted to drive around Madkins on the baseline.

But Range called a bumping foul on Madkins, his fifth.

“I was (practically) running from the guy,” Madkins said. “(He) calls a foul. And then we get on our end, we try to get a rebound and eight of those guys are climbing on our backs.”

MacLean, though, said that the officials didn’t beat UCLA.

“I would say the officiating wasn’t very good,” MacLean said, “but you can never blame (losses) on officiating.”

If anyone was to blame, MacLean said, it should be him.

MacLean is UCLA’s all-time scoring leader, on pace to replace Arizona’s Sean Elliott as the Pac-10’s all-time scoring leader, but he never played well in four games at the Sports Arena, making only 38.6% of his shots while averaging 14 points, more than six below his overall average.

In his last appearance on USC’s home court, MacLean scored 18 points, the most productive of his Sports Arena appearances, but made only six of 17 shots.

“They played well,” MacLean said of the Trojans. “I guess they deserved to win. On the other hand, when one of your leading scorers is six for 17. . . .”

MacLean said he didn’t notice his words on USC’s shirts.

“I don’t pay attention to that stuff,” he said. “I said what I felt after the last game and that was it. I said that more because we were on our home floor. This one was an away game. And they played well.

“I guess you’ve got to give them credit.”

If grudgingly.