Crosstown Los Angeles rivals meet as Big Ten Conference foes for the first time on Monday when UCLA visits Southern California.
Since pulling out of a four-game tailspin, UCLA (14-6, 5-4 Big Ten) has come alive with a three-game winning streak. The Bruins followed an 85-83 home win over No. 18 Wisconsin on Tuesday with a 65-60 defeat of Washington in Seattle on Saturday.
Big man Aday Mara had his second standout performance coming off the bench, following up a career high of 22 points vs. Wisconsin with 12 points and seven rebounds at Washington.
“What he’s doing in these last couple games is what he does every day in practice,” teammate Dylan Andrews said. “Aday is a monster, and I’m glad people are starting to see that.”
Andrews has also seen an uptick in his play. UCLA coach Mick Cronin called out Andrews, the team’s leading scorer a season ago, and Andrews has responded with games of 13 points vs. Iowa; 10 points and seven assists vs. Wisconsin; and nine points, including a pivotal, late-game 3-pointer at Washington.
Andrews is part of a Bruins backcourt that includes veteran Kobe Johnson, who played for USC the last three seasons. Johnson returns to the Galen Center for the first since his transfer, but the Trojans team he sees looks much different than the lineup he was in.
In its first season under coach Eric Musselman, USC (12-7, 4-4) underwent dramatic roster changes. Leading the new group is guard Desmond Claude, the Trojans’ leading scorer at 16.3 points per game.
Claude led USC to a 78-73 win at Nebraska on Wednesday, scoring 21 points. Claude has put up at least 21 points in three of the last four games, all Trojans wins. He finished with nine points in the one loss.
USC also feeds off Claude when he’s distributing to others, which Musselman noted following the win at Nebraska.
“The biggest thing with Desmond is that he had zero assists going into halftime, and it was super important for him to understand that the defense was loading up on him and he was going to have to really trust his teammates,” Musselman said. “He did that. He ended up getting six assists in the second half.”
Claude’s 4.2 assists and Saint Thomas’ 4.1 assists per game help drive a USC offense that is 12-0 when scoring at least 75 points this season and 0-7 when failing to hit that mark.
–Field Level Media
