Trojans trounced at home by Bruins

The Trojans (9-8, 1-4 Pac-12) fell to their crosstown rivals on Wednesday night as UCLA (11-7, 3-2) won 83-66. Sophomore forward Nikola Jovanovic led USC with 20 points, but the Bruins proved to be too much to handle and they out-rebounded the Trojans 41-20. UCLA was led by senior guard Norman Powell, who scored 22 points, and sophomore guard Bryce Alford continued his efficient scoring with 21 points, including five three-pointers. USC head coach Andy Enfield said after the game that Powell is first-team all-league player in his book after the performance he put on Wednesday night.

The Trojans played with heavy hearts after former head basketball coach Bob Boyd died of natural causes early Wednesday afternoon at the age of 84. Boyd had planned to attend the game with his son, Bill, but he passed away earlier in the day. Boyd went 216-131 with the Trojans from 1967 through 1979. Boyd was also known for his success as a player at USC when he was the team MVP as a senior in 1952. There was a moment of silence before the game to honor the late coach, who died at the age of 84.

Despite the loss off the court, USC fought hard to open up the game, but the Bruins proved to be too tough for this young team. One bright spot was Jovanovic’s performance, but even he recognized the lack of production in the second half that ultimately led to the defeat.

“The difference in the game was just the second half,” said Jovanovic. “I tried to do my best, but everybody needs to contribute and try to play better.”

Enfield cited the lack of production off the bench and overall lack of consistency as two main reasons that contributed to the poor performance. Specifically, freshman guard Elijah Stewart struggled off the bench and only scored 3 points.

Redshirt sophomore forward Darion Clark provided a spark off the bench on Wednesday and he ended the game with 11 points.

“We do need some production off our bench,” said Enfield. “Darion finally came in and gave us a big lift off the bench, but if you look at our guards, they did not shoot a high enough percentage for us to win.”

USC shot 41.4 percent from the field but UCLA was able to shoot 56.5 percent, including 62.5 percent in the second half when they really pulled away.

“When UCLA shoots the ball as well as they did tonight, they’re hard to beat because they have very talented players at every position and they shot a high percentage,” said Enfield. “They made a lot of tough shots tonight.”

UCLA’s shooting was what gave them the big lead in the second half, but the Trojans did not compete at the Bruins’ level coming out of halftime.

“We’ve been pretty inconsistent starting the second half. It’s a lot of different things that lead to it,” said Clark. “I just think, as a team, we kind of lose focus, and that’s what happens when you’re a young team. The focus is not always there.”

USC’s rebounding struggles started in the first half as they were out-rebounded 24-10 by the Bruins. Freshman forward Kevon Looney and sophomore guard Isaac Hamilton both had 6 rebounds in the first half as UCLA dominated. Looney finished the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds. UCLA had a balanced rebounding effort and controlled the paint for the entirety of the game which is something that USC players addressed afterwards.

“We just have to be tougher,” said Clark. “It’s as simple as that. They outplayed us, they out toughed us, they killed us on the boards. As a team we just have to be tougher.”

While the Trojans struggled on the glass, Jovanovic and redshirt sophomore guard Katin Reinhardt combined for 24 points in the first half and shot a combined 9-15 to keep the game close. Reinhardt helped spark a run with back-to-back threes during an 8-point burst that was followed by seven consecutive points from Jovanovic. The Trojans only trailed by five at the end of the first half.

This streak of scoring provided a nice spark for the Trojans but Enfield emphasized that he wants to find someone he can rely on night in and night out.

“I’d like to come up with some guys that we know we can rely on every night for certain things, whether it’s scoring, rebounding, great defense,” said Enfield. “We’re so streaky at times, it’s hard to do that. We need all of our players to improve and get better.”

Enfield recognized that he has yet to lead his team to a victory over the crosstown rival but he treated it as any other game once again.

“We haven’t beat a lot of teams,” said Enfield. “We’re the fourth youngest team in the nation and it showed tonight,especially at some key points. UCLA is our crosstown rival but there’s other teams we have to beat in this league. Our young players will probably learn a lot from this game.”

USC will get a chance to beat one of those other teams as they next head to Eugene to face another Pac-12 opponent, the Oregon Ducks (12-4, 2-1), next Thursday at 8 p.m.