Eric Dailey Jr.’s career-high 25 points led five UCLA double-figure scorers, and the Bruins rolled past visiting crosstown Los Angeles rival Southern California on Saturday, 90-63, to close both teams’ regular season.
UCLA (22-9, 13-7 Big Ten Conference) opened on a 14-2 run and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire en route to a dominant win. The Bruins set the tone defensively, holding the Trojans to just two points for more than seven minutes to begin the contest.
USC (15-16, 7-13) mounted a brief rally to cut the deficit to five points before UCLA responded with an 8-2 run, capped with Aday Mara’s successfully converted and-one at the buzzer before intermission.
Mara came off the bench to score 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. He contributed to the Bruins’ blistering 37-of-60 field-goal shooting as a team.
Dailey shot 10-of-13, including 4-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc. Skyy Clark, who finished with 17 points, connected on 3-of-6 from long distance and 7-of-10 from the floor overall.
Clark kicked off a 3-point deluge early in the second half that snuffed out any hope USC had for a comeback. After Saint Thomas sank a triple coming out of the locker room for the Trojans, cutting a 12-point deficit to nine, Clark answered with a 3-pointer on the UCLA end.
Dailey and Dylan Andrews added 3-pointers in the next two minutes. Along with former Trojan Kobe Johnson’s layup, set up by a Clark steal, UCLA opened up a 20-point lead.
The gap continued to expand the rest of the way, with USC unable to overcome committing 20 turnovers that UCLA turned into 37 points. Dailey and Clark each made three steals.
Clark also dished six assists, behind only Andrews’ seven for a game-high. Tyler Bilodeau scored 12 points for the Bruins, and Sebastian Mack added 10.
Wesley Yates III led USC with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists. Desmond Claude scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor.
–Field Level Media
