News Roundup of a Record Tying Destruction of Just SC

Let's give big-mouth just SC Coach Andy Enfield a chance to speak first about UCLA's complete 107-73 annihilation of just SC:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Andy Enfield, asked for positives out of UCLA loss: "Positives? None."</p>&mdash; Rich Hammond (@RegisterUSC) <a href="https://twitter.com/RegisterUSC/statuses/419956655426506752">January 5, 2014</a></blockquote>

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A quick review of Enfield's trash talk is here.  While Steve Alford let the score speak for him, the Morgan Center may have sent a subtle message as well:

He could cite no good happenings on defense. The Bruins shot 22 for 36 (61%) in the first half, 19 for 35 in the second half (54.3%) and 41 for 71 for the game (57.7%).

"UCLA shot the ball really well and that seemed to rattle us," Enfield said, speaking in a closet-sized room filled with mops and buckets stuffed with volleyball nets.

"Is this the media room?" Enfield asked. It is for teams that lose by 34 points.

Enfield the clown apparently got mixed up even leaving Pauley, as Peggysue69 wrote:

Enfield, Mr. Sweet 16, was so befuddled after getting run out of Pauley, once he finished the obligatory handshakes with the coaches and players who had just humiliated him, started to walk into the Spirit Squad which was performing some gymnastic stunt in the middle of the floor at half court. An alert U.C.L.A. police officer had to direct Enfield away from our kids for his own safety. I'm not exaggerating.

Get the old fool a caregiver before he hurts somebody.

Enough on Enfield, although Alford did not say anything, this game meant something to him, see below.  Turning to the players, as is often the case let's start with Kyle.

The scoring total was UCLA's highest of the season, and the first time it had scored triple digits against the Trojans since 1998.

. . . Alford had said those comments [by Enfield] had "zero" effect on how the Bruins would prepare for the game, but the team's actual performance spoke to at least a small measure of extra motivation. After giving up the first bucket of the game, UCLA unleashed an 11-0 run and never trailed again.

When sophomore Kyle Anderson tied a career-high 23 points with a contested layup midway through the second half, Alford gave him an uncharacteristic chest bump.

The point guard added 12 rebounds and five assists on his way to his seventh double-double of the season.

More on Kyle, who had all his assists in the first half:

Anderson went 6-for-7 from the floor in the first half, for 14 points. He also had six rebounds and five assists in the game's first 20 minutes.

USC used a 7-0 run midway through the first half to get to within three points of UCLA but the Bruins responded with a 20-7 run of their own, and eventually led by as many as 25 points before the break.

The Bruins opened up the second half with a 12-3 run, taking a 68-37 lead in the process, and never looked back.

Kyle said something interesting as well.

"Coach says not to be robots out there - he just wants us to play. It's cool with the record [equaling the most points scored versus USC], but the win is more important. We just wanted to make a statement. This prepares us for conference play. We did what the coaching staff has been stressing, which is sharing the basketball, and we did that very well."

Maybe that was a slam on Howland.  But they made a nice statement on who owns LA, in basketball football, baseball, etc.

Bryce Alford had a career high 20 points and walk on brother Kory scored the last point which tied the record for points against just SC.  Steve Alford earns the last word.  Even though he said this in November, he backed it up yesterday.

Alford finally issued a response of sorts in the Nov. 25 issue of Sports Illustrated, saying, "We've won 11 national titles and they haven't won any. A lot has to change before the comparison can be made between us and them as basketball schools."

Agree completely on this one.  And yesterday nothing changed as UCLA dominated just SC.

Go Bruins!