{"id":614562,"date":"2026-02-25T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/614562\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T07:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:00:16","slug":"donovan-dent-scores-30-points-as-ucla-men-rout-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/614562\/","title":{"rendered":"Donovan Dent scores 30 points as UCLA men rout USC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One team was coming off its highest high, the other off its lowest low, but recent history matters little whenever UCLA<\/a> and USC<\/a> meet.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night\u2019s matchup inside Pauley Pavilion was no exception, as the men\u2019s basketball programs faced off in the first of two key Big Ten clashes in 11 days and the host Bruins sent their blue-clad fans home happy with an 81-62 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Donovan Dent led the charge with 30 points and seven assists, Trent Perry had 13 points and four assists, Xavier Booker had 11 points and three blocks and forward Tyler Bilodeau added 13 points and nine rebounds as the Bruins (19-9 overall, 11-6 in the Big Ten<\/a>) improved to 15-1 and stayed in seventh place in conference play with three games remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

In the latter stages of the second half, UCLA made 10 of 12 shots and led by nine with 5:43 left. A three-pointer by Eric Freeny extended the margin to 14 with 2:01 remaining. UCLA scored 32 points in the paint and scored 15 points off turnovers.<\/p>\n

Three days earlier, UCLA pulled off its biggest win of the year, rallying from 23 points down to stun 10th-ranked Illinois in overtime and rode that momentum to overwhelm its crosstown rival, still smarting from a 71-70 defeat to lowly Oregon on Saturday at Galen Center.<\/p>\n

Both teams wore their dark jerseys for the 266th meeting between the teams and UCLA improved to 150-116 in a series dating to 1928 when UCLA joined the Pacific Coast Conference.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau is defended by USC forward Jacob Cofie in the first half. <\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Chad Baker-Mazara was hot early for the Trojans, hitting four three-pointers and totaling 14 by the break, but no other USC player had more than four in the first 20 minutes. The Bruins did not lead until Bilodeau banked in a 15-foot jumper to edge them in front 8-7 4:39 into the game. <\/p>\n

UCLA went on a 12-2 run in just under five minutes to build a 29-23 lead while USC was in the midst of a one-for-eight drought from the field, but the Trojans pulled to within two on Ezra Ausar\u2019s layup with 3:30 left in the half. <\/p>\n

Booker\u2019s dunk ignited a 7-0 run to put the Bruins up 36-27 and Dent swished a 15-footer that beat the buzzer and gave UCLA a 38-29 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

Dent had 19 points at intermission and outscored USC by himself in the last nine minutes of the half, 7-6. He finished five of six from three-point range.<\/p>\n

\"USC's <\/p>\n

USC forward Chad Baker-Mazara, guard Alijah Arenas, UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau and USC forward Terrance Williams II vie for the ball in the first half.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

UCLA stretched its lead to 11 points five minutes into the second half as the Trojans went cold, shooting one for 11 and going 3:49 without scoring a basket. It was a frustrating night for USC star guard Alijah Arenas, who had four points and five turnovers when he was whistled for a charging foul \u2014 his third \u2014 running over Perry with 16:45 left.<\/p>\n

He finished with 10 points but Baker-Mazara was the leading scorer with 25 points for the Trojans (18-10, 7-10), who dropped their fourth straight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One team was coming off its highest high, the other off its lowest low, but recent history matters…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":614563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[38124,1582,276,2385,230690,176729,263490,263492,2961,224,5337,11148,449,51379,3007,36418,2501,223886,11016,263491],"class_list":["post-614562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-assist","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-day","tag-donovan-dent","tag-first-lead","tag-host-bruins","tag-key-big-ten-clash","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-minute","tag-point","tag-second-half","tag-team","tag-trojans","tag-ucla","tag-ucla-man","tag-usc","tag-zavier-booker"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116129983914833274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}