Black Out At Pauley East: Bruins Throttle JustSC

by Nestor on Feb 17, 2008 9:22 PM PST in Basketball

Well Davon Jefferson, the Gap Closers 40 year old freshman wanted us to come with "something."

Well he got his wish. RW and rest of our warriors came out and gave Timmeh's NIT caliber basketball program a little dose of Ben Ball. They dished up DJ a little "something":

Photo Credit: Victor Decolongon/Getty Images (via Yahoo)

The final score was 56-46. But it wouldn't have been close if our guys were shooting their FTs. Here is the box score.

So the gap closers played a little dress up tonight. But the only guy who was blacked out today was an over-hyped freshman who got dominated, destroyed, and savaged by an super sophomore - Russel Westbrook - on the defensive side of the ball. Yes, OJ2 hit double digits ... in turnovers.

Kevin Love comes through in clutch. DC with his share of clutch shots. But the game ball for tonight goes to the Prince. Yes, Luc comes back with a strong performance. He scores 10 pts and hauls in 11 rebounds. But it was his defensive presence that made the difference tonight at Pauley East.

Either Love or DC will end up being our MVP this season. But I maintain it will be LRMAM who will turn out to be the MIP (most important player) of this year's Bruins.

Anyway, it was just another win against JustSC. I know some of you were a little extra fired up for this game. But as I maintained all along in the greater scheme of things this game will have jus as much significance as any other regular season game this season.

Our guys still have issues to work out on offense. Hopefully they will use tonight as a launching point to close out the season strong and bring in our 3rd straight Pac-10 title. We will have lot more on this game tomorrow night.

For now though thread it up in our Ben Ball post game victory thread.

GO BRUINS.

Tweet Comment 43 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

2-8, 4 Points, 4 Fouls

Somehow that's probably not the statline that Mental Midget Davon Jefferson imagined when he opened his big mouth about the Bruins lacking toughness. I also don't think he expected his pathetic teammates to put up a miserable 46 points as the trOJans were outclassed, outhustled, outplayed, in every facet of the game en route to surrendering to the Bruins. And remember, Jefferson didn't want to hear any excuses after this game, so let's hope he remembers that since I'm pretty sure 2 concussions and knocking out 2 of our top 6 players in a game carries a far bigger impact to a game than missing one player. No excuses Davon. You got owned. The Bruins are your daddy. No excuses.

19 offensive rebounds and a dominating performance by Westbrook showing that OJ2 is more hype than substance.

by Tydides on Feb 17, 2008 9:28 PM PST reply actions

Davon

Had to change up the image in the game thread.

What's that you kids say these days?

PWNED.

by Nestor on Feb 17, 2008 9:37 PM PST up reply actions

Root Canal

Howland referenced earlier in the year that playing Washington St. was like having a root canal. Was it just me or was this the root canal game. Seemed like neither team was on offensively. Maybe the D was that good. And I agree with Love. Please feed him the ball. A few more touches on the block. By my calculation he had four touches down there. One he passed back out after a double team. Otherwise, two were baskets and the third a fould on Gibson. Seems like an area to attack more against Gibson, as there was no bench once he gets into foul trouble. Looked like Westbrook was a little tired in the end, but probably secondary to the chasing of OJ2. I will take the win, but hope for a little more zip next week offensively and certainly a little better from the charity stripe.

by popopapa on Feb 17, 2008 9:34 PM PST reply actions

Davon Jefferson after the game:

"I don't regret nothin' I said...They [UCLA] came out the way they was."

How could UNLV not take this guy!

by TfXc79 on Feb 17, 2008 9:35 PM PST reply actions

Wow

Well said, DJ. I wonder how it took so long for you to qualify at Figeroa Tech.

by BruinsRule on Feb 17, 2008 10:31 PM PST up reply actions

They came out the way they was...

is the new "It is what it is"

by UCngLA on Feb 18, 2008 10:38 AM PST up reply actions

Combining Davon Jefferson With Dennis Green

"They was what we thought they was!"

by bruin7982 on Feb 18, 2008 1:44 PM PST up reply actions

Gutsy performance

Tonight was the type of defense that we have all come to expect from our team. Luc had a huge part in shutting Davon down. I'll add that Luc is the key to our defense.

Heard the post game show and Howland blew up the Davon quotes and posted it in the locker room. On the bus ride to SC, DC taped it to his chest. A focused bunch they were.

Good job and get plenty of rest for Oregon this week because we owe them a little somethin' somethin' for treating KL and his family like trash.

by BlueReign on Feb 17, 2008 9:35 PM PST reply actions

Great game

Not as much the win, but the effort, discipline and execution. We had a bad shooting night, which happens, but did everything else so well we were able to overcome it.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 17, 2008 9:38 PM PST reply actions

You're right, Rye

Once you shoot the ball, you have no more control over it, and sometimes they just won't go through the hoop. But you can always control the rest of the game - your positioning, your footwork, your mental toughness, your attention to all the detail in the defense that Coach Howland teaches.

Frankly, I don't care what the offense looked like tonight. I was glad to see that the patented Howland defense was back.

by Fox 71 on Feb 17, 2008 9:49 PM PST up reply actions

Shooting

Trying to be objective here, but saying "we shot poorly" clouds the picture of the game. Just as when we play a team and they comment that they missed bunnies, we should be comfortable admitting that USC played very good defense and made us take a lot of difficult shots. Nearly every one of our uncontested shots was uncontested because USC was trying to prevent other shots (the others were generally because we were in transition). Think about it. How many of our open jumpshots were by Luc, AA2 and Love? How many times were we in in the last 5 seconds of the shot clock before we got a shot off? That's got to be good defense. USC played an inspired game. One of their best defensive efforts of the year, in fact. Yet, they lost by 10 at home and never led after the score was 16-15 (if I remember correctly). They must have been playing a national championship caliber team.

by BruinsRule on Feb 17, 2008 10:39 PM PST up reply actions

The moment

I read Davon Jefferson's quotes and then found out the SUCsters were coming out in black, I knew we had this game won. It was that kind of lack of discipline, sideshow gimmicks that defined the Lavin era. Timberly has got that down pat.

Ben's steady, disciplined, workman-like warriors got the job done tonight. It wasn't pretty, but it was a win.

"I just think, at the end of the day, UCLA is not a great job." Brian D'Oh!n, 12/07

by godblesstyus95 on Feb 17, 2008 9:48 PM PST reply actions

Is that box score right?

Only 5 assists, 0 for Collison? 33.9% shooting. Whew! and we won? Nice D boys.

by popopapa on Feb 17, 2008 9:48 PM PST reply actions

Mine shows 8 assists for the team

none for Collison, 2 each for the other starters.

by bruinhoo on Feb 17, 2008 9:54 PM PST up reply actions

It's their "look"..

So the gap closers played a little dress up tonight.

..what the smart, urban thugs and their fans are wearing this Spring. Trés chic for the NIT.

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on Feb 17, 2008 9:52 PM PST reply actions

Mayo

Are we sure his initials are really O.J. and not T.O.?

by LA Seitz on Feb 17, 2008 9:52 PM PST reply actions

Ahh the new SC unis

reminds me of one of my favorite lines from "Little Giants." i don't remember it verbatim but:

Coach: "Look guys new uniforms!"
Player: "Death shrouds."
Coach: "Come on. They even have your names on them!"
Player: "so they can identify the bodies."

The effort was great tonight, although I was tense watching the entire time. It drove me crazy. But I liked that we were getting down to the floor, fighting for some of those loose balls, and OJ getting shut down! WOOOOO!

SC wore an appropriate color tonight.

Bring on the Oregons!

by freesia39 on Feb 17, 2008 9:53 PM PST reply actions

Lock Down

Yeah baby! Now, did you notice the difference between the way the Bruins celebrated that win vs. the way SUC celebrated at Pauly? No jumping up with the number one sign up, no chest pounding. Act like youve been there before, that UCLA basketball!

Go UCLA!

by madmaxucla on Feb 17, 2008 10:02 PM PST reply actions

with all due respect

USC has not been there and never will be there. How can we expect them to behave as if they have?

Okay, a little tongue in cheek. But doesn't that say it all? The gap will never be closed. They are nothing but a fly in the ointment. An annoying insect. They might beat us occasionally, but when it comes time for winning championships, they will be watching it on tv, and we'll be on the court.

by BruinsRule on Feb 17, 2008 10:30 PM PST up reply actions

Point Taken

I'm just proud of the way our boys handled themselves after the game. Nice win!

Go UCLA!

by madmaxucla on Feb 17, 2008 10:53 PM PST up reply actions

They also celebrate excessively

after each made shot. I wouldn't even calling it celebrating more like trash talking after the fact. But again, our boys handled themselves with class. Other than Josh Shipp getting in Mayo's face after he posterized him, I can't really thing of another example when our guys got into their faces over a measly two points.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Feb 18, 2008 8:44 AM PST up reply actions

I too love the defensive effort

but this game should not have been this close. The BB warriors need to find their outside shot, especially JS, and feed KL in the post. Very encouraged by LRMAM -- definitely what we missed at UW.

by UCLAMD89 on Feb 17, 2008 10:36 PM PST reply actions

Right on about the outside shot

Looking over the season-long numbers, and our 3-point shooting really has fallen off as of late. Over the last 4 games, we are shooting just under 16% from behind the arc (7-44, 15.9%). Of the 12 Pac-10 games UCLA has played to date, the team has shot 20% or worse from 3-point range in 6 of those.

Can't quite be sure what the cause for the recent struggles from long range are; in fact, our worst 3-point shooter, Luc missed 2 of those 4 games. The team has actually attempted fewer 3-point shots in recent games (11.0/game over the past 4 games, compared to 15.7/game on the season) and to their credit have not been seeming to force the long-range shots. The shots just seem not to be falling.

by bruinhoo on Feb 17, 2008 11:05 PM PST up reply actions

Pretty Simple

What accounts for the drop-off in three-pointers is Shipp has been in a shooting slump. He has missed 15 in a row, after shooting 40% up to that point. He made at least two 3-pointers in 14 of our first 18 games, but only 1 of our last 7 games. No doubt he'll get his stroke back before the end of the season.

by vanaaron on Feb 18, 2008 9:54 AM PST up reply actions

LUC RICHARD MBAH A MOUTE

i've said it before, and i'll say it again. the man is a beast. when he's on the floor, UCLA is UCLA.

by jjreicher on Feb 17, 2008 10:49 PM PST reply actions

Agreed

Go UCLA!

by madmaxucla on Feb 17, 2008 10:54 PM PST up reply actions

Crowd shots

Did anyone else get extremely annoyed by the camera panning to the crowd after every made shot by USC? I'm trying to watch a game over here. I don't need to see a bunch of teenagers awaiting an encore from AC/DC on its reunion tour.

Stick to the game, Fox. Pan to the crowd when USC hits a basket to tie the game (which they never did in the 2nd half). I don't need to see a bunch of people jumping up and down to celebrate an 8-point deficit.

by BruinsRule on Feb 17, 2008 10:49 PM PST reply actions

Echo the sentiments..

Hey, hermano!

The most irritating (camera) shot last night was the one they had up in nose-bleed country -- at least row ZZ -- where that Condom c-nt was shrieking into the camera and you needed a magnifying glass to make out the players.

Prime Ticket is not the only offender on this count, the other network that telecasts the Bruins (and other games as well) does this.

It is supremely annoying and frustrating to see a missed outlet pass and/or transition basket because some artsy-fartsy director is going for drama by showing the crowd, a celebrating relative, or bench reaction. This omission is typically followed by a pointless announcer talk-over exulting the break/bucket. If there's a rallying time-out by the other coach, they cut to a commercial (anyone else sick of the Colonel Sanders' buffalo wing ads?) before providing a disembodied replay bereft of all context.

Another irritant is the attempt at a dramatic angle; the floor shot -- no I mean THE FLOOR SHOT -- where the camera is so low, it's almost on the deck.

O.K., I get it, the players are tall and it's like running through the Redwoods. Now can we see the game such that we can watch the play develop?

(Thanks for bring this up; I needed to vent).

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on Feb 18, 2008 3:40 AM PST up reply actions

What annoyed me was

the fact that Fox clearly is trying to build the Trojan bandwagon. The purpose of the crowd shots is to show the viewers what an electric home crowd they have. It's supposed to (trick) convince people that they this is a good place to come and play ball.

Notice how they did it less late in the game when it became obvious they were getting tired?

Also, didn't it seem like the home crowd was cheering a victory a little too soon? Yup, you got caught on tape.

And what's with the constant shots of PC in the crowd? So what? Oh yeah, its the only thing you can hang you hat on. The one success that got Failen built. I am willing to bet they will hang their football banners up in that barn, Just so they have something to show. Speaking of which, Just what where those banners they were showing? It used to be Banners were only for championships. They've never won a National Championship and they only have 2 Pac 10 Championhips, so what where they? I remember seeing 4.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Feb 18, 2008 8:40 AM PST up reply actions

How much more black

could their uniforms have been?

The answer is, none.. None, more black.

by Class of 86 on Feb 17, 2008 11:14 PM PST reply actions

Black

You can see yourself in both sides.

It's like a black mirror.

by rick.2012 on Feb 18, 2008 12:41 AM PST up reply actions

Nice to see some "ugly" ball again.

And when I call it "ugly" ball, I mean it as a compliment -- that we can another team play ugly, as in frustrated, rattled, and sloppy.

We need to prove we can win by playing ugly. That's when we can REALLY use our bigs to wear opponents down by beating them to boards, blocking their shots, and generally making their forays into the paint like trying to fly a kite through a forest of oak trees with thorny vines wrapped around every branch.

BRAVO.

And our guards combining for only ONE foul in the 1st half??? Outstanding.

And the seeker defense of Russell on OJ K-O? BE-YOO-TI-FUL, along with the occasional covers performed solidly by Josh and Darren.

That being said, there is a lot I did NOT like about our game tonight, which I really want to see improved. Don't mean to be a spoilsport, but we still need our guys to step-up:

(1) End of shot clock confusion -- how many airballs/ bricks/ violations or near shot-clock violations did we have tonight, esp. in the 2nd half? Four? Five? DC has amde a lot of progress this month in finishing with the seconds winding down, but he needs to get back to doing that.

(2) Where was JS in the 2nd half? We need our 3rd scorer here, down the stretch run of the conference season.

(3) Luc -- why the baseline shots from 18' out? Your post and pull-up games were REALLY working tonight! I have no problem with the step-in distance shots from the 10-2 areas along the arc, but the deep corner bombs? Whoa.

(4) How many minutes did RW and DC play? We have to get rest for these guys, somewhere. Paging Chace Stanback...

(5) $C played only 6 guys, and we still couldn't put them away until the last 3 minutes? That does not bode well for us.

MIM

"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008

by Meriones on Feb 17, 2008 11:20 PM PST reply actions

Oregon State

will be a great opportunity for Chace to log some minutes and hopefully he can use a good outing as a springboard.

I had to miss the second half but I'm glad to see they held on and finished strong. Good defensive effort.

by Raisin on Feb 17, 2008 11:30 PM PST up reply actions

Patient Offense, Tenacious D

It was an ugly game, but it reminded me of the last two years and the way we used to win. I'll take a "W" over a "pretty loss" any day of the week. We obviously shot poorly, but I actually liked our shot selection. Shipp was off, but he contributed in other ways...he's getting better about that. Most college stars will keep forcing up shots until they hit one. Next thing you know, the guy is 4-21 and the announcers are talking about his "resiliency."

Sure reminds me of OJ Mayo and his self-destruction tonight. RW did a great job, but OJ played like that one kid on the court that everyone hates. Eventually the rest of your team stops running the floor because they know he's going to throw it out of bounds or dribble it off his foot on every possession. I mean, that has to be pretty embarassing on your own floor (with your mother watching, no less).

I'm seeing images of Reggie Miller choking himself.

Go Bruins.

by hicalliber on Feb 17, 2008 11:36 PM PST reply actions

"Black Out"

I think I've found the reason behind it: if everybody's supposed to be wearing black, the empty black seats look as if they're full.

by jaffa on Feb 18, 2008 12:18 AM PST reply actions

haha classic jaffa

and yea good win...it was a bit sloppy offensively and too sc's credit they played good D...ours was fabulous...i'm seriously shocked by 4 points and ten turnovers thats absurd, i think we just kept him in Pauley East for another year...well the normal player might consider fine tuning one's game, but i think hes all ready done his thing and looking forward to late nights with melo..

O.A.

by Ollie on Feb 18, 2008 3:48 AM PST reply actions

It's been mentioned before...

... but FSN has no idea how to televise games. At least we didn't get the floor level, mid-court shot of the refs butts last night. But the constant cutting to reaction shots of players, and the crowd and whatever needs to stop. While the clock is running, stay with the game.
At one point last night, DC nearly picked off an inbounds pass, and just as it happened, they cut away for a reaction shot. Not only did we not see what happened, the announcers completely missed it as well. As Napoleon Dynamite might say, "Idiots!".
As always, this points back to the nimrods at the Pac-10 office who signed us up for this joke of a TV contract.

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Feb 18, 2008 8:15 AM PST reply actions

hate to say it but

hats off to USC for playing tough nosed defense and staying in the game. If USC played every other team out there like they play us they would be a much better team and a lock for the Tournament. Not to mention they did it with only one sub all night.

After watching this game I was blown away by a few salient points.

What happened to our shooting? Sure they played good defense and blocked a lot of shots, but we missed plenty of wide open shots as well.

We almost fell into the same trap as the last game where we jacked up quick shots. They got it together and played smart efficient ball, but it just reminded me that this team is still young and still plays that way from time to time.

As far as getting more minutes to our subs, I agree. I can see this was a big game and we had to keep our starters in the game, BUT! When did LMR become a bench player? The man is a warrior! Why wasn't he in the game more?

And after all that we came away with a win? Not a bad night's work, boys. Go Bruins.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Feb 18, 2008 8:57 AM PST reply actions

Floyd is an idiot

He's down one player and suddenly he can't sub in anyone? Did he think maybe sitting down OJ2 would get him settled? Or Davon "the genius" Jefferson?

There isn't that much of a drop off between his starters and bench. He is an idiot.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Feb 18, 2008 9:09 AM PST reply actions

I don't know why everyone is so impressed

that most of their players played the whole game. It's not like SUC is deep at all, injuries or not. TIMMEH probably would have played the same lineup regardless of the status of his players. It's not like Hackett would have provided much more than Johnson did last night who had 16 points. They're lucky that Johnson made some difficult shots, otherwise, they score in the 30's for that game.

by Tydides on Feb 18, 2008 9:17 AM PST up reply actions

Angelo Johnson

He actually only had 2 points on 1-6 shooting. Hackett was an important loss, but if he's out for the year there's no reason to complain. If they can't win without him, they won't win when it really counts. Tough luck.

by SuperBruinMan on Feb 18, 2008 11:25 AM PST up reply actions

Oops

I meant Lewis, who had 16, and is an 11 per game scorer. As you said, they have no reason to complain, especially not against the most injured team in the conference. As Jefferson said: No Excuses.

by Tydides on Feb 18, 2008 11:30 AM PST up reply actions

nice win

anytime we beat them in anything is a good win. it was great to see the prince out there doing his thing, which then, allows us to do our thing. love his game when his crashing the boards, offensive put backs and intermediate game. still thinks he can hit long range jumpers with consistency and i cringe everytime he hauls them off.
i wanted to get others impressions on this, rw and dc were running around, eating clock and then taking a not so great shot. at first, i was getting mad- but then i was wondering whether that was part of the gameplan. as far as taking mayo for a ride and tiring him out on the defensive end? looking at things this way made me not feel so unhappy with those guys offensively.
free throws are becoming a concern... why? take care of that maestro howland.

Across The Face

by rb bruin on Feb 18, 2008 11:32 AM PST reply actions