USC men’s basketball has seen plenty of bad moments this season: Season-ending injuries to star players, heartbreaking last-second losses, blowouts at the hands of top-ranked teams and most recently, the sudden departure of leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara.

And yet, Saturday night’s 89-68 defeat to crosstown rival UCLA (21-10, 13-7 Big Ten) may have topped them all.

After keeping the score even early on, the Trojans (18-13, 7-13 Big Ten) collapsed on both ends of the court down the stretch, allowing the Bruins to run away with their fourth consecutive victory in the rivalry matchup — much to the delight of the UCLA faithful, who far outmatched the USC fans at Galen Center in intensity throughout all 40 minutes of the lopsided matchup.

“Our home court has not been much of a home-court advantage,” Head Coach Eric Musselman said in a postgame news conference. “It’s been a challenge here.”

Saturday marked the Trojans’ seventh loss in as many games, capping off a brutal slide to end the regular season that saw them fall out of the projected NCAA Tournament field altogether. USC will likely need to make a deep run in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament to have a shot at earning a March Madness bid for the first time in Musselman’s tenure.

Dent powers relentless Bruin attack

For the first quarter of Saturday’s matchup, it seemed destined to be a tightly contested battle between the two squads, who sat tied at 21-21 after 11 minutes. However, the Bruins proceeded to separate themselves with a 13-1 run, building a massive lead they would keep at double digits for the rest of the night.

Leading the early charge was senior forward Tyler Bilodeau, who erupted for 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting in the first half. In the second half, though, Bilodeau didn’t take a single shot, opening the door for two of UCLA’s other stars to shine: senior guard Donovan Dent and junior guard Eric Dailey Jr.

After overpowering USC’s defense to the tune of 30 points in the rivals’ previous matchup Feb. 24, Dent gave the Trojans some deja vu Saturday, dropping 19 in the second half and 25 overall on an 11-for-15 clip. Dailey was close behind with 19 points, all but one of which came in the final 20 minutes; in total, Dent and Dailey combined for 37 of the Bruins’ 44 second-half points.

“We had a problem staying in front of Dent,” sophomore forward Jacob Cofie said in a postgame news conference. “11-for-15 — that’s unacceptable.”

Behind its trio of offensive weapons, UCLA dominated on efficiency all night, shooting 58% from the field and 53% from deep — both the highest marks allowed by USC all season. In contrast, the Trojans were below average on both counts, sitting at 43% and 29%, respectively.

The Bruins also bested Musselman’s squad on the glass, outrebounding USC 37 to 26.

Trojan offense does what it can

In the absence of Baker-Mazara, the Trojans have looked to freshman guard Alijah Arenas to take on the bulk of their scoring opportunities. Arenas took 18 shots Saturday night — more than twice as many as any of his teammates — and made seven, including three 3-pointers, for his fourth 20-point game of the season.

Aside from Arenas, much of USC’s production came via Cofie and senior forward Ezra Ausar, who finished the regular season each having started all 31 games. Ausar notched his fourth double-double in six games with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, though he also fouled out for the eighth time this season.

Cofie was close behind with 10 points and five rebounds, though unlike Ausar, he managed to stay out of foul trouble, committing only one foul for the first time in nine games.

Ausar was one of five graduating players honored in the pregame Senior Day ceremony — along with graduate guard Kam Woods, who joined the team in late December but became a crucial part of the lineup down the stretch. Woods served as a playmaker all night, dishing out 11 assists; no other Trojan had more than two.

“He was finding guys early. I noticed that from the jump,” Cofie said of Woods’ passing ability. “When he gets in that mode where he wants to find guys — you can do that every night.”

Washington awaits in Big Ten Tournament

With the regular season in the rear view, Musselman and company will direct their attention toward the Big Ten Tournament, which will be do or die for a USC squad that currently sits outside the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Musselman said that fine-tuning the defense will be a priority in preparing for the tournament; the Trojans have given up more than 80 points in six of their last seven games during their stretch of losses.

“We just got to keep teaching. There’s really nothing else you can do,” Musselman said. “We do have some young players that need to continue to learn a lot on the defensive end.”

USC is locked in as the 13th seed in the conference tournament — just one spot ahead of its placement last season — and will play Washington (15-16, 7-13) in the second round. The two teams have already faced off twice this season, with the Huskies getting the better of the Trojans in the more recent matchup.

With its season on the line, USC will battle Washington in Chicago on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., where a loss would essentially shut the Trojans out of March Madness for the third year in a row.