INDIANAPOLIS — The scene in UCLA’s locker room at halftime was a familiar one.
The Bruins had been out-toughed by their biggest rivals once again. Out-hustled. Out-scored. Six days after that heartfelt meeting they thought had answered their problems, they were seemingly right back where they started.
“I really wondered what their eyes were going to look like,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “They were poised and determined. They knew they had not played their best, and they didn’t do the things we needed to do, but they still believed they could turn it around.
“I just said … `How bad do you want it? What does this mean to you?’ They’re like, `We got you, Coach. We’re going to get this thing done.’ I guess I can believe them.”
The Bruins didn’t just get the Big Ten tournament title and the automatic bid that goes with it with their 72-67 win over USC on Sunday. They got their mojo back, just in time for the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA erased a 13-point, third-quarter deficit and held USC to 22 points in the second half. After a Kiki Iriafen jumper with 2:17 left in the third, the Bruins didn’t allow another field goal until JuJu Watkins’ jumper with 1:13 to play, a span of more than 11 minutes.
And while Watkins made things interesting with a 3-pointer and a layup in the last 11 seconds, UCLA mostly stifled the national Player of the Year favorite. Watkins finished with 29 points, but it was on 9 of 28 shooting. She only got to the foul line once in the second half.
Lauren Betts, meanwhile, was fearsome. She had 13 of her team-high 17 points in the second half, when she outbodied the Trojans on seemingly every possession. She also had three of her four blocks over the final 20 minutes, including one on what looked to be a gimme layup by Watkins.
“Hustle and fight. I think that’s what we lacked the first two times we played them and that’s what we brought in the second half today when we came back and won,” said Kiki Rice, who had five of her 13 points in the second half despite picking up her third foul less than two minutes into the third quarter.
UCLA was the unquestioned best team in the country for much of the season. The Bruins won their first 23 games, all but one of them by double digits. They routed then-No. 1 South Carolina in the non-conference, and needed no adjustment period when they started their first season in the Big Ten.
But rivals are rivals for a reason, and USC was always going to be UCLA’s truest test.
It was one the Bruins failed miserably. Twice.
Watkins had a monster game in the first meeting, tagging the Bruins for 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight — eight! — blocks. She “only” had 30 points in last weekend’s rematch, but the result was even more dispiriting because of how lackluster UCLA was down the stretch.
Close called out her team after the game, questioning its toughness. On Monday morning, Rice and Gabriela Jaquez called a players-only film session where the Bruins were brutally honest about their shortcomings and promised each other they wouldn’t allow them to happen again.
That they found themselves in a familiar position Sunday night, but this time found a way to claw their way out of it, can pay dividends long after the confetti has been cleaned up and their Big Ten championship hats have been put away.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Londynn Jones, who stayed on the floor even after picking up her fourth foul with 6:22 left in the third quarter. “But this does build confidence. We know what we can do.
“We always believed what we can do,” she added, “but it was a matter of showing it. We did that tonight.”
That means as much as any win, any title.
Given the opponent Sunday and what comes next, maybe even more.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
