Determined Trojans Hustle Their Way Into Consciousness of the City of Angels

The big man in the building is now a bishop, so what happened there Thursday night should have figured.

Belief flew. Faith soared. Prayers were, well, you know.

The new owner of the Forum, in case you missed it, is the Faithful Central Bible Church.

The new owner of the UCLA basketball team, in case you missed it, is USC.

The rickety old fieldhouse could barely contain this town’s new nasty basketball team, what with all their elbows and shoves and screams.

The final score was USC 81, UCLA 77.

The final scene was a midcourt student mob reminiscent of a 27-0 celebration two months ago.

The final explanation was much simpler.

“We wanted it more,” said Trojan David Bluthenthal.

Did they ever.

While UCLA stayed close with late three-point baskets, this game was decided about 18 feet closer.

The Trojans, without a true center, outrebounded the Bruins by 13.

With each of those 13 extra rebounds coming on the offensive boards.

Which means only one thing, and that is not athleticism or reputation.

It means only hustle.

Forget UCLA’s valiant late comeback, forget Matt Barnes’ amazing seven three-point baskets or Dan Gadzuric’s 16 rebounds.

The only memory of this game the Bruins can carry with them when they play host to top-ranked Kansas Saturday is that they were outhustled.

“We were not going to lose this game,” said Trojan Brandon Granville. “We just were not .”

The Trojans played the entire two hours like that, in italics, while the Bruins were mostly lower-case bland.

Even in the end, when Granville was facing two free throws in the final seconds to clinch the game. The same Granville who had missed much of the second half with an eye injury that caused him to see everything in triplicate.

“Everything out of my right eye, I saw three of them,” he said. “Three rims, three basketballs.”

Funny thing about that eye, though. When Coach Henry Bibby desperately put him back into the game to break the UCLA press in the waning minutes, the blurriness slowly ceased.

And by the time he went to the foul line with the Trojans leading, 79-77?

“I could almost see the rim,” he said. “So I just concentrated and let my mind do the rest.”

So it did, helping him sink both free throws to sink the Bruins and

Well, maybe not quite. This being the USC basketball program, even an appearance in the Elite Eight isn’t enough to keep the sky lit.

Before the game, the Trojans were clearly considered one of the most phony teams in the country. After all, despite a 12-2 record and the returning core of that Elite Eight group, they had earned not one mention in the national rankings.

Meanwhile, UCLA, with an 11-2 record and only a couple of bigger wins, was ranked 11th.

“It’s like we’re always having to prove everybody wrong,” Bluthenthal said.

In this case, they even had to prove themselves wrong. For even the Trojan players will tell you, this group did not believe it could ever truly whip UCLA.

Besides losing 13 of the last 14 meetings between the two schools before Thursday, USC had only to think of last year.

Remember? The Trojans started the season at 12-2, then traveled to Pauley Pavilion. It was supposed to be the first clear sign of their strength. Instead, they spent the entire evening being bullied.

Remember? In the opening minutes, Gadzuric knocked Desmon Farmer to the floor. Then Earl Watson knocked Bluthenthal into the scorer’s table. The Trojans fell behind by 19 points and never recovered.

Remember? USC did.

“Last year, we went there and got disrespected,” Farmer said. “This year, that wasn’t going to happen to us.”

This year, payback took three minutes.

On a rebound early in the game, Granville knocked Billy Knight to the floor.

Moments later, Kostas Charissis knocked Rico Hines on his rear.

On it went throughout the first half, with USC charging and UCLA cowering.

The first half ended when Granville literally drove over Knight for a layup that gave USC a 37-29 lead.

Check that.

The first half actually ended seconds later when Farmer, swaggering off the floor, banged chest-first into T.J. Cummings.

They were hustling even when they weren’t hustling, playing hard even when they weren’t playing.

This continued throughout the second half, and pretty soon you were thinking, this was the hardest anyone has played since Troy Polamalu chased down Cory Paus.

The Trojans looked as good as they looked last year in beating Kentucky in Philadelphia. The best freshman on the floor was none of the guys from UCLA’s highly touted trio, but a Carson kid named Errick Craven.

The Bruins clearly are talented enough to return to the second week of this spring’s tournament. But the Trojans are clearly tough enough to join them.

And now, finally, for the first time in several years, their heads are clear.

Because for USC to be considered among the best teams in the nation, it must first believe it is the best team in its own town.

“Now,” said Granville, “we believe.”

“Without a doubt,” said Bluthenthal, “we believe.”

They are not alone.

*

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.