LOS ANGELES >> When the UCLA basketball team tipped off against USC Saturday night, the No. 6 team in the country was simply trying to avoid embarrassment. A loss would have extended USC’s win streak against UCLA to five games, the longest in the rivalry since the 1940s.
By the end of the night, the red on the faces of the USC players nearly matched their uniforms. UCLA ran away with a 102-70 win at Pauley Pavilion, the last few minutes of which were a dunk-filled show for a crowd adorned entirely in blue T-shirts.
Bryce Alford scored 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Lonzo Ball had 15 points, eight assists and eight rebounds and Thomas Welsh added 16 points and 16 rebounds.
USC (21-6, 8-6 Pac-12) defeated UCLA (24-3, 11-3) by eight on Jan. 25 at Galen Center on the strength of 3-pointers and a zone defense that confounded the nation’s highest-scoring offense.
The Bruins, who haven’t lost since, matched their second-highest point total of conference play, shooting 54 percent from the field while holding USC to 34 percent.
USC trailed by five with 2:58 to play in the first half, but the Bruins closed the half with an 11-4 run punctuated by a Ball 3-pointer.
Five minutes into the second half, the Trojans trailed by 15 and never pulled closer than nine.
The UCLA lead swelled to 20 with a 10-0 run that ended with 6:06 to play and grew to 30 when Alford made a deep 3-pointer on the heels of consecutive alley-oops that ignited the capacity crowd.
But it didn’t look as promising for the No. 6 team in the country in the early going.
When USC’s Jordan McLaughlin took a steal the length of the court for a lay-up to give the Trojans a 21-16 lead, it was beginning to feel like Jan. 25 at Galen Center again. USC forced 17 turnovers in its fourth consecutive victory over the Bruins three weeks prior, one off UCLA’s season-high.
The Bruins’ were in an 0-for-9 drought at the time and USC again appeared to be in possession of the kryptonite for the nation’s most efficient offense.
The Trojans forced seven UCLA turnovers in the first half, but the Bruins countered by making 7 of their 12 attempts from 3-point range. Their much-maligned defense also held USC to 33 percent shooting in the first half.
Ball made his customary deep 3-pointer before the first-half buzzer to give the Bruins a 46-34 lead.
After shooting 40 percent and scoring just eight points in the first meeting with USC this season, Leaf led all scorers with 12 points at halftime on 5-of-7 shooting. His three-point play with 2:37 left in the first half was part of an 11-4 run by the Bruins to close the half.
UCLA’s lead climbed to 15 early in the second half when Leaf, trailing in transition, made a 3-pointer to balloon the Bruins’ lead to 61-46.
Bennie Boatwright, who missed the first meeting with UCLA due to a knee injury that shelved the sophomore for 15 games, helped USC whittled the lead to nine with a pair of 3-pointers in the second half. Boatwright finished with a team-high 20 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
It didn’t take UCLA long to build its largest lead of the night courtesy of a 10-0 run fueled by Alford. The senior guard made a deep 3-pointer to begin a sequence that assuredly made his father, Bruins coach Steve Alford, proud. TJ Leaf blocked USC’s Nick Rakocevic on the other end and Alford was fouled as he made a jumper the next trip down the court.
He made three consecutive free throws to swell the UCLA lead to 20 points with 6:04 to play.
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