UCLA dominates rival USC to lock up double bye in Big Ten tournament
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Aday Mara corralled the ball in the paint as the seconds trickled toward zero. The 7-foot-3 Bruin bench giant battled four Trojans surrounding him and lifted a shot a few feet from the basket.
Mara converted the basket, generated a foul call and made the free throw. The sophomore pumped his arm up and down. One. Two. Three. The three-point play to end the first half let the nearly sold-out Pauley Pavilion crowd breathe as the Bruins hustled into the locker room up by 12 points.
UCLA controlled its destiny Saturday night — and Mara, along with the rest of the Bruins, played like it. Illinois beat Purdue on Friday. Penn State upset Wisconsin. Maryland handled Northwestern. The quadruple combination to secure a double bye into the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament quarterfinals was up to UCLA to complete.
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And the Bruins did, with little resistance. Unlike UCLA’s trip to the Galen Center a little more than a month ago, coach Mick Cronin’s squad ditched back-and-forth basketball, using a 14-2 run across the first seven-plus minutes and a 51-point second half to end the regular season with a 90-63 win.
“I thought we played with tremendous conviction to our game plan,” Cronin said. “Defensively, we made it hard on them, extremely hard.”
UCLA’s 27-point win was its largest over USC since 2017. The Trojans, who had 20 turnovers and shot 43% from the field, finished under .500 for a second consecutive season. Wesley Yates III led USC with 21 points.
Eric Dailey Jr., whose smirks and antics charged the crowd every time he was shown on the videoboard, scored a career-high 25 points. He had 14 points in the second half, spearheading an offensive effort that helped the Bruins (22-9, 13-7 Big Ten) take a 36-point lead at one point.
“This is the basketball we know we can play,” Dailey said. “We need to keep playing that brand of basketball once the tournament starts, going into March Madness, and we’re going to go a long way.”
Cronin had plenty of praise for his players after the game. He pointed to junior guard Skyy Clark’s 13 deflections and his 17 points off seven-for-10 shooting as a factor in the win. He also preached of Dailey’s defensive growth — the sophomore guard had three steals and locked down Yates in the second half.
“Credit to our guys, they were awesome,” Cronin said. “Our front line was extremely productive.”
Along with Mara and junior forward Tyler Bilodeau — who scored 14 and 12 points, respectively — the Bruins bullied the Trojans (15-16, 7-13) inside for 42 points in the paint. UCLA shot above 60% from the field in both halves, while five Bruins finished in double figures.
“There’s nights UCLA struggles on offense for stretches of games,” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “Well, they didn’t struggle at all. They’re probably like, ‘Wow, we should play these guys all the time. We can get our scoring average and field-goal percentage up.’”
Musselman said his players “didn’t understand the rivalry” and treated the game like “any normal game.” The Bruins, however, said the rivalry-game atmosphere helped fuel their second-half scoring surge.
“We know it’s a big-time game,” Clark said. “We knew if we won — we knew whoever won would also get a double bye, and also it’s senior night. So the combination of the double bye, the rivalry game, the fans, seemed like all of it together — I think the energy just fed us the entire way.”
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USC will play in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday. UCLA will play in the quarterfinals Friday.
Cronin said he’s going to give his team the next two days off.
“You gotta make sure these guys are fresh when the Big Dance starts,” he said. “Around here, man, they ain’t going to hang no banner if you win the Big Ten tournament.”
