A History Of The UCLA – USC Basketball Rivalry

This coming Sunday, and a few weeks later on February 15, UCLA and USC will resume their crosstown rivalry and meet on the basketball court for the 234th and 235th time.

Unlike in football, where the Trojans have historically had the advantage and continue to dominate, the Bruins have the upper hand in basketball, beating ‘SC 129 times with the Trojans winning 104 of the contests between the two schools.

In fact, with 11 national championships as opposed to USC’s one Final Four appearance in 1954 (ironically, the same year that the Bruins won their only national title on the gridiron), UCLA hoops is everything that USC football is; every bit as traditional and every bit as successful.

In fact, it is interesting to note that the basketball series predates the football one by a year, as the first meeting between these two L.A. schools happened in February 1928 with a three game series; the Bruins lost the first game 45-35 but won the next two contests between the schools that season.

A few years later in 1932, USC went on an 11-year, 42-game winning streak against their Westwood counterparts, with quite a few of those games not being close as the Bruins couldn’t catch a break.  UCLA finally broke the streak in 1943, beating ‘SC 42-37 in the first of two final games of the season as for decades, the two teams would end the year against each other just like in football.

It held the NCAA record for one team beating another consecutively until 1980, and remains the third longest ever.

In 1948, a significant thing happened that changed the course of the Bruins – Trojans basketball rivalry forever: the greatest sports coach of all time, John Wooden, taking over the program at UCLA.

During his 27 years in Westwood, he completely turned around the Bruins’ fortunes on the court, not only in NCAA championships as UCLA won ten titles in his last 12 years, including an epic seven in a row, but also in the battles with the crosstown rival as he also won three-fourths of his games against USC, beating them 61 times.

And it wasn’t as if the Trojans were complete pushovers, either, as ‘SC had some very good basketball teams during the Bruins’ glory years.

As a matter of fact, one can definitely say that the Trojans provided that push that all great sports dynasties need, as they gave UCLA all they could handle on several occasions, including in 1969, when USC took a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor at that time) led Bruin team to two overtimes in their first match, then dealt them their first ever loss at the then-new Pauley Pavilion the next night, 46-44.

UCLA winning their third straight national title later that year – and fifth in six years – softened that blow, but at least the Trojans had something to hang their hat on.

The 1970-71 season was probably the best one in this rivalry, as the Bruins and the Men of Troy were ranked #1 and #2, respectively, for most of the season.

USC, coached by Bob Boyd and led by Paul Westphal, was actually undefeated and ranked ahead of UCLA when the two teams met in the first of their two-game set. ‘SC blew a nine-point lead in the first game and lost, then the Bruins won going away in their second game 72-63.

Even though they finished second in the country, those two losses denied the Trojans a spot in the NCAA tournament, as only conference champions were allowed in the Big Dance in those days.

Talk about frustration, not having a chance at a championship because of your rival!

I’m sure that UCLA’s football players know that feeling, being denied a Rose Bowl berth at the hands of ‘SC numerous times over the years.

The 1970s saw UCLA, thanks to standouts like Bill Walton, Sidney Wicks, and Marques Johnson, win 19 of the 20 games played against USC, which switched the rivalry’s historical advantage for good.

1985 saw what was perhaps the series’ most memorable games as they were both heart-stopping nailbiters, the first game in the Sports Arena having two overtimes and the second in Pauley having an incredible four. The Trojans won both games by a combined three points and went on to the NCAA Tournament.

The latest notable event in this crosstown rivalry was at the end of the 2007-08 season.

With the Bruins and Trojans both being led by outstanding freshman, Kevin Love at UCLA and O. J. Mayo at USC, the two teams, after splitting their two regular season games, met for the first time in the post-season at the Pac-10 Tournament.

Before a full house crowd of 18,997 at Downtown L. A’s Staples Center, the two teams met in the semi-finals for ultimate bragging rights. After a close, intense battle, the Bruins won 57-54 and would go on to not only win that Pac-10 tourney, beating Stanford 67-64, but also earn a spot in the NCAA’s Final Four.

Since 2000, the series has been more even with UCLA holding a slight 12-11 lead on USC. Even though the Bruins (9-7 this season) will be favored this year over a rebuilding Trojan team (currently 5-12), the old cliche holds:

Anything can happen in a rivalry.

We will see if that statement holds true this season, starting this Sunday night at the Galen Center.