Bruins overcame emotions

After UCLA defeated Arizona State on Saturday, which made the Bruins eligible for a bowl game, there wasn’t much talk about their game against USC on Dec. 2.

Instead, most of the conversations were about the team’s resiliency.

“We wanted to show our character and continue to fight,” UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said of the Bruins, who suffered two emotional blows Friday with the deaths of former cornerback Marcus Cassel and freshman wide receiver Jeremy McGee’s mother.

“We know with Marcus ... he wouldn’t want us to be sad and worry about what happened to him. He would want us to continue the legacy that we’re trying to build.”

Dorrell said that dealing with Cassel’s death was difficult for the entire team, including UCLA’s coaches.

“It was hard getting me re-focused,” Dorrell said. “To lose anyone in your family. Everyone experiences it differently. We talked about it. Yeah, we cried. We did what we had to do to let our emotions show.”

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For the first 10 games of the season, UCLA’s defense was nothing special whenever opponents crossed the Bruins’ 20-yard line. But against Arizona State, UCLA’s red-zone defense won the game.

“The main factor was their red-zone defense and goal-line defense,” Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter said. “They did some blitzing on the goal line that we hadn’t seen them do before. They fooled us a couple of times on those short plays inside the five.... They also did a good job of mixing man and zone in the passing game.”

Arizona State ended up with three field goals in the four times it got inside the Bruins’ 20.

“Going into the game our goal was to give up nothing over seven points,” said junior safety Chris Horton, who made a key fourth-down tackle near the goal line in the first half.

“We didn’t reach that goal, but we didn’t let them get into the end zone,” he said.

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For a rare time this season, senior Justin Medlock was not UCLA’s main offensive weapon. After averaging 2.3 field goals a game, Medlock attempted only one, which he made from 24 yards, in UCLA’s 24-12 victory over Arizona State.

The difference for the Bruins was big pass plays from quarterback Patrick Cowan to wide receiver Brandon Breazell.

The two players hooked up twice for touchdowns, including a 35-yard score in the fourth quarter to seal UCLA’s victory.

“Offensively we had a couple of touchdowns but we didn’t have much rhythm,” Dorrell said. “It was kind of sporadic but when we needed to make a play in the fourth quarter, it was good to see us come up with the big play.”

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Since the Bruins do not play this week, they will have only one full practice, on Tuesday.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com