UCLA – USC Hoops Preview, Part Two

For Los Angeles’ two flagship institutions of higher learning, things have more or less gone the way the pundits expected since the last time UCLA and USC met in basketball at the Galen Center on January 15.

For the Trojans, it has continued to be a lost season as they have won all of one game, at home against Utah, since then while for the Bruins, it has been more frustrating in the sense that they’ve played well in beating teams like Colorado and Stanford, but have also played poorly in losses to Oregon, Washington and California, blowing leads to the Ducks and the Huskies in the process.

I believe inconsistent has been and is the best way to describe Ben Howland’s team, currently standing in sixth place in the Pac-12 Conference at 7-6 and 14-11 overall.

As for Kevin O’ Neill’s squad, he cannot really be blamed for ‘SC’s last-place standing in the conference, their record being a dismal 1-12 and 6-20 overall, due to the fact that these Men of Troy have been decimated by injuries even more than they already had; Aaron Fuller and DeWayne Dedmon, two more key players, suffered season-ending injuries since their 66-47 walloping at the hands of UCLA.

This extreme shorthandedness has forced USC to play scrubs and walk-ons, which hasn’t left them with much of a chance to compete in the Pac-12 as they’ve essentially been playing with one hand tied behind their back.

So what does all this mean as the Bruins and Trojans prepare to play the second of their two games in this hoops version of the Crosstown Rivalry this Wednesday night at the Sports Arena?

Despite UCLA’s inconsistency, they remain a clear favorite to beat ‘SC because of an even bigger advantage up front, now that Dedmon’s gone, as Bruin center Joshua Smith and the Wear twins, forwards Travis and David, are all averaging at least 10 points and five rebounds a game, while Lazeric (Zeke) Jones has provided good senior leadership at point guard with his 13.8 points per contest, which leads the Bruins.

Meanwhile, Zeke’s counterpoint at guard, Maurice Jones, has been the only consistent Trojan with his 13.9 points per game; he should be commended with his efforts in holding USC together during their bad season.

Before the previous game between these two teams, I wrote that the Trojans had absolutely nothing to lose against the Bruins as they were clearly the underdogs.

Now that they are even bigger underdogs than they were last time, they have even less to lose; it’s guaranteed that ‘SC will bring it as this is a rivalry game and they will be motivated.

That’s why UCLA cannot take these Trojans lightly; the Bruins need to forget that USC has 20 losses and is in dead last place in the Pac-12.

In other words, playing them like they would play Duke or Kentucky would be a good idea, as a loss to the Trojans will pretty much end their NCAA tournament hopes – not that they were all that great to begin with.

Plus, how would it look for UCLA to lose to a crosstown rival that’s having a terrible season with only one win in the conference?

That would be like the ‘SC football team losing 13-9 to the Bruins in 2006 – and I’m positive that UCLA’s hoopsters don’t want that type of thing to happen.