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Former UCLA player Reeves Nelson filed a lawsuit against Sports Illustrated and reporter George Dohrmann Wednesday and the suit includes declarations from 18 current and former UCLA players who reject various claims made in a March Sports Illustrated article that depicted Nelson as a boorish player with a propensity for violence and out-of-control behavior.

Some, such as Drew Grodon, and Tyler Trapani, were alleged victims of Nelson's violent antics who said Nelson never did to them what the Sports Illustrated story said. Others, such as Blake Arnet and Alex Schrempf, said they spoke with Dohrmann and told him the information he had was incorrect only to see it end up in print anyway.

All of them disagreed with the Sports Illustrated depiction of Nelson as a player who intentionally injured teammates and was coddled by coach Ben Howland, who turned a blind eye to Nelson's transgressions.

"I never saw Nelson intentionally hurt or intentionally try to hurt any member of the UCLA basketball team or staff, nor do I believe that Nelson ever intentionally hurt or tried to hurt any member of the UCLA basketball team or staff," reads a passage in each of the 18 declarations. "I did not observe and do not believe that Coach Howland favored Nelson over the other players in any fashion, not with respect to discipline or anything else."

Some players addressed specific incidents alleged in the article. Gordon, for instance, was reported to have gotten into an off-campus fight with Nelson that resulted in a black eye for Gordon, but Gordon's declaration stated "The article’s description of Nelson’s behavior toward me is false. We have never had a fight, not at a teammate’s apartment or anywhere else, nor has Nelson ever given me a black eye from a fight or otherwise."

The Sports Illustrated story also reported that Schrempf, a former UCLA walk-on, suffered a serious back injury as a result of a Nelson attack during practice. Schrempf's declaration said that never happened. In his declaration, Schrempf acknowledged speaking with Dohrmann but told Dohrmann his facts were wrong.

"During our conversation, Dohrmann specifically told me that he had 'heard' that Nelson intentionally injured me during practice by knocking me to the ground from behind," Schrempf's statement says. "According to Dohrmann’s 'source,' Nelson’s conduct caused me to suffer a serious back injury. I explained to Dohrmann that this version of events was incorrect."

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Ben Howland has pocket aces and might possibly get another on the flop, now he's got to decide how to play the hand.

Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson, two of the top five national recruits, have signed with UCLA along with No. 41 Jordan Adams and No. 26 Tony Parker could very well join them in Westwood next season as UCLA reopens Pauly Pavilion in front of what is sure to be a full house.

With that kind of recruiting class comes pressure to win and it's up to Howland to decide the best course of action.

He could slow play this talented lineup, letting them grow into their own as the season progresses, or he could go all in on his fabulous freshmen, letting them loose from the beginning and trying to ride them to prominence knowing that they could very well be one-and-done players at UCLA.

"We have to have a good plan as to what we're going to put in right away offensively and defensively," Howland said. "We've got to move quickly because the games come so fast."

[CLICK THIS LINK TO HEAR Ben Howland on 710 ESPN radio with Mason & Ireland]

Howland's coaching philosophy has long centered on the team-first mentality. He prefers to have three or four players score in double figures every night instead of having two players with 25 each and that balanced philosophy coupled with his slow-down motion, offense and tough-nosed defensive style tends to hide the explosive offensive talents of star players.

The college statistics of players such as Kevin Love (17.5 points per game) and Russell Westbrook (8.3) don't exactly foreshadow NBA all-star selections. Former national high school player of the year Jrue Holiday is now a starting point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, but didn't make so much as second-team all-conference during his year at UCLA.

His style has proven successful over the long haul, with three consecutive Final Four appearance as evidence, but that doesn't mean Howland is oblivious to the need to use talented players.

"We definitely have to try to take advantage of their abilities," Howland said. "They're going to be great in the open court and hopefully we're going to have the depth where we can play faster and get up and down."

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UCLA's maligned basketball program is back in the national spotlight, but this time it's a good thing.

Coach Ben Howland, his reputation soiled after his program received national exposure for all the wrong reasons, made a startling comeback just a month after his future at UCLA had been called into question.

With one short, declarative sentence, Las Vegas high school senior Shabazz Muhammad changed the fortunes for UCLA basketball and Howland. Muhammad, the No. 2-ranked recruit in the nation, made UCLA relevant once again when he appeared on ESPNU Wednesday and said "I chose to be a Bruin."

And with that, the Bruins, who did not even make the NCAA tournament -- nor the NIT for that matter -- last season, are suddenly a sleeper pick for a national championship run next season. UCLA, its proud basketball tradition waning after missing the NCAAs twice in the past three seasons, once again has something to brag about.

And after a couple of seasons of contemplating how far the mighty had fallen, those around UCLA are now wondering if the bandwagon has any seats left on it.

"I think he’s going to have a tremendous impact," Howland said of how much of a difference-maker Muhammad could be. "He’s a special, special talent and has so many attributes that will help our team."

Muhammad, a 6-foot-6 small forward, is explosive, athletic and can score from anywhere, including beyond the three-point line. He was named the 2012 Naismith Boy’s High School Player of the Year and selected by the McDonald’s All-American committee as the 2012 Morgan Wootten Player of the Year. He also was named the MVP of the 2012 McDonald’s All-American game on March 28 and won the Powerade Jam Fest dunk contest.

But his scoring ability and talent are only half the story of what he brings to UCLA. His character off the court is equal to his ability on it and that is exactly what UCLA needs after Sports Illustrated reported dysfunction in the UCLA program caused mostly by the unscrupulous acts of entitled recruits.

The signing of Muhammad, along with Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams, puts a new face on the way UCLA does things.

"The thing that’s great about Shabazz is he’s a great kid," Howland said. "They have a great family. He’s really, really the total package. An outstanding student athlete. This is a whole new era. What we’ve really try to institute now is a whole new level of accountability for our current team."

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LOS ANGELES -- A difficult and sometimes bizarre season took a disappointing turn for the UCLA basketball team in a game that pretty much summed up the way the season went.

The Bruins lost, 66-58, to Arizona Thursday in a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal that, much like the season, featured UCLA fighting through adversity, looking as if it might turn a corner but could never quite get things rolling in the right direction.

UCLA (19-14) will lament losing the game in a wide-open Pac-12 tournament that was their only possible path to the NCAA tournament, especially after the Bruins' path to the final cleared somewhat with top-seeded Washington's loss earlier in the day, but the inconsistencies that have plagued UCLA all season did so again against Arizona.

The Bruins did not put together a win streak of more than three games in conference play this season and could not put together a stretch of more than five minutes of high-level play Thursday. The Bruins fell into an early hole, climbed back out and made a run, but could not close it out.

"We had our opportunities to win and did not seize the moment," coach Ben Howland said.

The same could be said for UCLA all season. UCLA lost four conference games by three points or fewer and lost four times on the road after taking second-half leads. Those close losses ended up being the difference between making the NCAA tournament and hoping for an NIT invitation.

But so are so many other things.

The Bruins entered this season without two of their top three leading scorers from last year after Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt left school to enter the NBA draft. UCLA lost the third member of that group when Reeves Nelson was kicked off the team seven games in. The fourth-leading scorer, Joshua Smith, reported for the season grossly out of shape and was hardly a factor most of the season.

The rest of the Bruins tried to keep things together, but simply never built any momentum.

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LOS ANGELES -- UCLA center Joshua Smith said Thursday that he would be coming back to UCLA.

Smith, a 6-foot-10 sophomore center, had a disappointing season averaging only 10 points and 4.9 rebounds but is thought to have NBA potential because of his size. But after UCLA was knocked out of the Pac-12 tournament with a 66-58 loss to Arizona, Smith said he was not ready to test the NBA waters.

"I’m coming back," Smith said. "I can’t -- there’s no way I’ll ever leave on a note like that. Whenever I leave I want to make sure we go out with a bang and I go out with a bang, nothing like this."

Smith was a major reason why UCLA was ranked No. 17 to start this season and picked as the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12 title. But he reported to school this year grossly out of shape, spent the first half of the season just trying to get back into shape and was an equally major reason why the Bruins failed to live up to those lofty expectations.

He continually found himself in foul trouble throughout the season and averaged only 17.4 minutes a game. As a freshman last year, Smith averaged 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per game.

"I’m extremely upset with myself," he said. "I realized in the season with the way I was playing and my numbers compared to what they were when I was a freshman. I was supposed to make that jump and I didn’t.”

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LOS ANGELES -- Joshua Smith has pretty bad timing, so Ben Howland pretty much had no choice.

Smith, UCLA's sophomore center, missed the team bus to Staples Center for a first-round game against USC in the Pac-12 tournament and Howland suspended his 6-foot-10 inside force for the first half of UCLA's 55-40 victory over the Trojans.

The team is staying at the J.W. Marriott at L.A. Live -- just a five-minute walk to Staples, and Smith actually beat the team bus to the arena because the bus had to navigate the one-way streets, traffic signals and downtown L.A. traffic.

But because of all the scrutiny surrounding UCLA basketball in the wake of a Sports Illustrated report that alleged, among other things, a lack of discipline by Howland for transgressions by standout players, Howland had to take action for a seemingly harmless incident.

So as No. 5-seeded UCLA suffered through a miserable first 15 minutes against No. 12 USC, Smith sat planted on the bench unable to help his team get out of an early-game shooting funk all because he was four minutes late for the bus in pretty much the worst possible week he could have been late for any team function.

"It’s just one of those where coach made a decision and I’m not going to fret with the decision he made," Smith said. "I was late and I deserved to be punished and when he told me, I had no problems with it."

Certainly UCLA could have used Smith. The Bruins made only three of their first 20 shots from the field, unable to take advantage of a major size advantage mostly because Smith was not on the floor. USC, a team that won only one conference game all season, led, 17-9 with 6:35 left in the first half.

Still, Howland stuck to his guns even as he watched his team settle for jump shots as USC packed the middle with defense because UCLA did not have Smith in the game establishing a much-needed inside threat. Howland said Smith's tardiness has not been an issue in the past, but it was clear that he had to send a message with the program under so much scrutiny this past week.

"It hasn’t been something that has been a problem with him ever being late to the bus, but I don’t care," Howland said. "This is too big and too important."

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LOS ANGELES -- Lazeric Jones picked a heck of a season to be UCLA’s captain.

From a floundering 2-5 start to the season, to the dismissal of all-conference forward Reeves Nelson to center Joshua Smith’s ineffectiveness and last week’s Sports Illustrated article portraying the team as a program in disarray, this has been a season filled with one bit of adversity after another for the Bruins.

But to find the Bruins playing their best basketball at the end of such a difficult season is a testament to the heart and character of the players, led by their captain.

Jones, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, has been the steadying influence who helped keep off-court issues off the court. He has been the hard-nosed player who brought a brand of Chicago toughness in a season when the Bruins needed it most.

And he has been the leader on the court, too, coming up with Pac-12 Player of the Week honors last week as UCLA defeated Washington State and conference regular-season champion Washington to give the team momentum heading into the Pac-12 tournament.

The No. 5-seeded Bruins (18-13, 11-7) play No. 12 USC (6-25, 1-17) in a first-round game Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at Staples Center and must win four games in four days if they want to make the NCAA tournament. To do so, they will look to Jones, their leader on and off the court, to guide the way.

“He’s done a great job for us and has really been a pillar of stability and a very good role model in terms of on and off the floor,” coach Ben Howland said. “He is really, really a good person and a good kid. You can’t say enough about that and that ties into why he is a good player. Very focused. He loves the game.”

Jones leads the Bruins in scoring with 13.4 points per game, assists with 4.2 per game and steals with 1.8 per game. But more than his stats, his leadership and constant presence have been a unifying force for the team. He is the only player who started every game this season and was the only player to start every game last season as well.

Jones also leads the team in minutes with 33.4 per game so he always seems to be involved when UCLA needs him most.

“He’s always talking about staying together and playing for each other as a team,” guard Jerime Anderson said. “That’s something that he really believes in and you can see it out on the court. He’s all about his team and he’s willing to fight for us. That’s the attitude that all teammates and all team members should have.”

It’s an attitude that has come in handy this season, when off-court distraction easily could have crumbled the team. Instead, Jones’ steadying influence helped keep the team focused during trying times and even though the win-loss record might not be as good as expected at UCLA, it’s pretty remarkable considering all the Bruins went through this season.

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LOS ANGELES -- Until this week's Sports Illustrated hit newsstands, close losses on the road had defined UCLA's basketball season.

The Bruins (17-13, 10-7) have lost five times by three points or fewer and they get a second chance at one of those teams when they face Washington in the regular season finale Saturday at 11 a.m. PT at the Sports Arena. And not only that, but the Bruins have a chance to keep first-place Washington (21-8, 14-3) from sole possession of the Pac-12 title.

"I've lost to Washington every time I've played them so I definitely want to get a win on them," sophomore guard Tyler Lamb said.

The Bruins led, 65-55, with six minutes to play when the teams faced off a month ago in Seattle, but managed only two more baskets in a 71-69 loss. The Bruins have had similar fates in losses at Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona and St. John's. The Bruins had second-half leads in all of those games but couldn't hold on down the stretch. And at Stanford, the Bruins never led, but lost by two.

The Bruins have lost five conference games by a total of 18 points. If the Bruins had won those, the Pac-12 title would be on the line Saturday. If they had won just two of those, they'd be in the running for a top-four spot in the conference and a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament. Instead, the Bruins have very little on the line Saturday. They can finish fifth, sixth or seventh, but will have to play the opening round of the conference tournament against USC, Utah or Arizona State.

"It's disappointing," forward David Wear said. "At the same time we just have to prepare and move on and get ready for the tournament. Right now we're just trying to improve our seeding and get the highest seeding we possibly can to put ourselves in a better situation."

It's difficult to say what has kept the Bruins from closing out those close games down the stretch. Certainly free-throw shooting has been an issue. But so has fatigue. The Bruins are playing an eight-man rotation for the most part and Lamb, Lazeric Jones and Jerime Anderson are all averaging over 31 minutes.

"There are a number of factors, but we just didn't finish the game," Wear said.

One thing the Bruins are sure to finish Saturday is their run at the Sports Arena. UCLA has been using the venue as its home court while Pauley Pavilion receives a renovation and while the Bruins have had some success at the arena, going 9-4 there so far, they won't necessarily be sad to leave it.

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When UCLA visits Arizona on Saturday, the game won't carry conference title implications as meetings between the Pac-12's powerhouse teams often have over the past two decades, but that doesn't mean it's a meaningless game.

Arizona (20-9, 11-5) and UCLA (16-12, 9-6) are among the five teams battling for a top-four seeding in the Pac-12 tournament and the loser of the game Saturday at 11 a.m. at the McKale Center might be on the outside looking in when it comes to a coveted first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.

"It’s very important," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Obviously we’re coming down the stretch here with only three games left in the regular season so it’s important for our potential mathematically to still have a chance to be a team that gets a bye in the first round. It’s important to try to get as high a seed as possible in the tournament and obviously we want to win."

Oregon (10-5 Pac-12), Colorado (10-5) and Stanford (9-7) are also among those fighting for those spots. California (13-3) has already secured a top-four spot and Washington (12-3) is one win away from dong the same. Any team finishing outside the top four would have to win four games in four days to win the Pac-12 tournament and earn the automatic NCAA berth that comes with it. No team has ever gone 4-0 in a Pac-10 tournament.

In other words, UCLA's chances of making the NCAA tournament may very well rest in the outcome of Saturday's game.

"If you just look at the percentages, the likelihood that someone is going to win four games in four days is very, very difficult," Howland said.

The Bruins defeated Arizona, 65-58, Jan. 5 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, but Arizona is a different team in February. The Wildcats finished January at 5-4 in conference play, but have won six of seven games in February, including a difficult sweep of Stanford and California on the road.

"They are improving," Howland said. "When they went to the Bay Area trip and swept that trip it really gave them some momentum and they’ve been playing very well."

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UCLA completed a season sweep over Arizona State with a 66-57 Pac-12 victory Thursday in Tempe, Ariz. Here's a quick look at the game:

OVERVIEW: UCLA started slow but took the lead midway through the first half and never trailed again, but it wasn't easy to hold off the pesky Sun Devils.

Every time it appeared as if the Bruins had seized some momentum and were about to blow open a big lead, the Sun Devils rallied and kept within striking distance. The Bruins took a six-point lead late in the first half, but it dwindled to 25-24 by halftime.

UCLA had a 46-37 lead with 11:31 to play, but Arizona state rallied back to make it 47-43 a minute and a half later. Even down the stretch, when UCLA finally put the game away by opening a 66-49 lead with 2:25 to play, Arizona State made a run and really could have made things interesting if a couple of 3-point shots had fallen.

Still, the Bruins did what they needed to in winning on the road against one of the Pac-12's lower-tier teams. Lazeric Jones had 20 points to lead UCLA (16-12, 9-6 Pac-12) and David Wear added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins.

Jonathan Gilling led Arizona State (8-20, 4-12) with 17 points and Trent Lockett added 13 points despite making only 3-of-11 shots.

TURNING POINT: After struggling to make a game-clinching run for most of the game, the Bruins finally took control with a 17-4 run that turned a 49-45 lead with 8:42 left to play into a 66-49 lead with 2:25 left.

The Bruins held Arizona State to 1-of-7 shooting during that stretch while connecting on eight of nine shots of their own. Jones and Wear each scored five points during the run, including a 3-pointer by Jones that gave UCLA 56-46 lead for the first double-digit lead of the game with 7:10 to play.

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LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA basketball team hasn't yet given up hope.

The Bruins are disappointed about where they stand going into the final two weeks of the regular season and know that winning the Pac-12 regular season title would require a minor miracle at this point, but they still feel that all is not lost.

The Bruins (15-12, 8-6 Pac-12) were picked to win the Pac-12 this season, but in order to do that would need to win all four of their remaining games and have both California (22-6, 12-3) and Washington (19-8, 12-3) lose their three remaining games while Colorado (18-8, 10-4) would have to lose at least twice and Oregon (19-8, 10-5) and Arizona (19-9, 10-5) would have to lose at least once each.

A minor miracle indeed, but hope comes in the form of the Pac-12 tournament that looms after the regular season finishes. Win that and UCLA would go to the NCAA tournament.

"It’s pretty deflating, but the season is not over yet," guard Tyler Lamb said. "As a team, I think we underachieved this year. I don’t think anybody would disagree, but the season is still going. We still have to get some wins. We can’t look back and dwell on the past right now because we’re still in season."

With elimination from the Pac-12 race almost inevitable, the Bruins must now focus on finishing among the top four in the conference in order to secure a coveted top-four spot in the Pac-12 tournament. The top for teams receive a bye in the opening-round, everyone else would have to win four games in four days in order to take the tournament title and that has never been done.

"We know we have to dig deep now and try to get some wins before the Pac-12 tournament and come out and play our hearts out in that tournament and see what happens," forward Travis Wear said. "[Coach Ben Howland] gave us the statistics of how many teams have won four days in a row and it’s not very good, so we know we have to try to get a top seed."

That road begins Thursday night on the road. The Bruins play at Arizona State at 5:30 p.m. Pacific to kick off a string of four must-win games. The road has not been kind to UCLA, which is 2-6 in true road games this season and 2-8 away from home against Division I teams.

But Arizona State is as good a team as any to help get the ball rolling. The Sun Devils (8-19, 4-11) have lost five of their last six games and have yet to defeat a Pac-12 team with a winning conference record. They scored eight points in the first half Saturday against Washington State and are 3-10 since dismissing leading scorer Keala King from the team in January.

Trent Lockett is the team's current leader with 13.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and Carrick Felix is the only other player averaging in double figures scoring with 10.1. But even though Arizona State is in the midst of it second consecutive 19-loss season, the Bruins know they can't afford to take them lightly. Last year, the Sun Devils took UCLA to overtime in Tempe.

"To be honest, we can’t overlook them," UCLA guard Lazeric Jones said. "The last time we were there, they took us down to the wire. That’s something I’ve been thinking about. They play really good at home and regardless of what their record is—last year they didn’t have a great record and still came out and gave us a hell of a game."

When the teams met Jan. 7 at the Honda Center, it wasn't much of a contest. Joshua Smith and Travis Wear dominated the inside against Arizona State's zone defense as UCLA posted a 75-58 rout. The Bruins could certainly use another game like that as they try to build some momentum for the Pac-12 tournament.

"All our games are important leading up to the Pac-12 tournament just with seeding and trying to get at least fourth place to get at least a fourth round bye," Smith said. "That’s all we can really go for. You never know what's going to happen, but it our position right now, we only have two weeks is not enough time to jump up to the top two or anything like that so we’re going to try and win the rest of our games and see what happens. There’s still the Pac-12 tournament. I mean, our season is not over so we still have something to look forward to."

UCLA's road woes continued Saturday when the Bruins lost, 66-63, to St. John's in a nonconference game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Bruins (15-12) fell to 2-6 in road games and have only one win against a Division I team outside of Southern California. St. John's improved to 11-16.

OVERVIEW:the game was close throughout as neither team led by more than six points, but every time UCLA tied or took the lead, St. John's made a run. The Red Storm took the lead for good on an alley-oop dunk by Sir'Dominic Pointer that broke a 45-45 tie midway through the second half.

The Bruins were within a point twice over the rest of the half and were within two with 45 seconds to play, but Phil Greene tipped in a missed 3-point shot by Pointer for a 66-62 St. John's lead with six seconds to play.

The Red Storm inexplicably fouled on the next possession, giving the Bruins some hope and Jerime Anderson made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 66-63. St. John's forward Moe Harkless grabbed the rebound on Anderson's miss and was immediately fouled. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but David Wear's three-quarter court shot at the final buzzer missed.

D'Angelo Harrison had 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead St. John's.

TURNING POINT: With St. John's holding a 54-53 lead and 8:00 left to play, Pointer threw down a dunk and after a quick UCLA miss, Harkless grabbed a rebound and made a nice pass inside to Greene for an easy layup and a 58-53 lead with 7:35 to play.

UCLA called a timeout to stop the momentum, but committed turnovers on it's next two possessions and never really recovered. The Bruins made only two of their final 14 shots form the field as they seemed to run out of gas playing against the quicker, more athletic Red Storm.

UCLA STAR OF THE GAME: Forward Travis Wear had a double-double for the second consecutive game with 11 points and 13 rebounds. He kept the Bruins close down the stretch with six points in the final 3:17, including two on offensive rebound putbacks.

Guard Tyler Lamb also had a good game with a team-best 18 points with six rebounds and four assists, but he also had eight turnovers, twice stepping out of bounds with the ball and other times trying to force passes.

STAT OF THE GAME: St. John's had 19 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points, using speed and quickness to continually beat the bigger, slower Bruins to loose balls and long rebounds.

The Bruins had a major size advantage with the Wear twins and Joshua Smith each at 6-10 and the Red Storm featuring only one player at 6-8, but the Bruins still only held a 40-39 edge in total rebounds and simply could not box out the smaller players on St. John's misses.

St. John's shot only 36.9 percent from the field, but the Red Storm, a 67.8-percent free throw shooting team for the season, made 14 of 16 free throws.


WHAT IT MEANS: Not much. The nonconference game wasn't going to make or break UCLA's season, but the continued inability to pull out close games on the road could prove troublesome as the Bruins head on a two-game Pac-12 trip to Arizona State and Arizona next week.

The Bruins are hoping to secure one of the valuable top-four seeds in the Pac-12 tournament, but currently sit in sixth place and can ill afford another conference loss if they want to having to win four games in four days to earn an NCAA tournament berth.

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA completed a season sweep of crosstown rival USC with a 64-54 Pac-12 victory Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The Bruins (15-11, 8-6 Pac-12) took control early in the game and then held off a late rally by USC (6-21, 1-13) to hand the Trojans their fifth consecutive loss and 14th in the last 15 games. It was UCLA's third consecutive victory over the Trojans and the Bruins improved to 44-20 all time against USC at the Sports Arena.

"It was good to sweep the Trojans," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "That’s always a good thing for us. Believe me, I was worried sick to my gut about this game playing right here in their back yard in what used to be their facility."

The Trojans are playing with a roster that includes only six active scholarship players as they have lost five to season-ending injuries since last summer. Howland came away impressed that the Trojans fought back Wednesday after being down by as many as 23 midway through the second half and cutting the lead to 10 with 1:34 to play.

"They’ve been through about as rough a year as you can have with all the adversity and injuries so I give Kevin [O'Neill] and his staff a lot of credit for keeping those kids to where they’re down here at the very end of the season fighting like it’s the beginning of the year," Howland said.

Five observations from the game:

1The Wear twins had USC seeing double

Twins David and Travis Wear had their best combined game as Bruins with a total of 30 points and 24 rebounds between them. They each had a double-double marking the first time in their college careers that has happened.

The 6-foot-10 twins had a distinct size advantage against USC, which doesn't play anybody taller than 6-7, but they also had motivation after each played poorly Saturday against Cal, when they combined to shoot 5-for-19 from the field and had 14 points and eight rebounds.

"I was especially hard on myself because of how I played," said David Wear, who had 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. "I only had one rebound, I think, and that’s unacceptable. I really used that as motivation coming into Monday and Tuesday. I knew that to turn it around I was going to have to play harder and come with a different mindset."

The Wears scored 14 of UCLA's final 15 points, continuing to play hard as USC was trying to get back in the game. Howland said he was pleased to see his sophomore transfers from North Carolina respond to their poor performance from the previous game.

"They came out with a sense of purpose and direction to play tougher, play more physical and go hard to the offensive glass," Howland said. "We need that form both of them as we go forward down the stretch."

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LOS ANGELES -- Just when the Sports Arena was starting to finally feel like home, this game comes around.

UCLA will play USC Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m at the Sports Arena and the Bruins will be the home team even though the Trojans will be able to walk to the arena and the Bruins must take a bus across town.

Such is the life for UCLA this season as the Bruins have played all of their games off campus while Pauley Pavilion undergoes a renovation, but this us the first time they'll play a home game so close to their opponent's campus

"All of our games haven’t really felt like home games so this isn’t really anything new," center Joshua Smith said. "People have said that they will have a lot of fans there being that it is on their campus, but it doesn’t matter. We’re just going to go out there and play."

When UCLA first announced that it would use the Sports Arena as it's home venue this season, one of the the biggest concerns was it's proximity to USC. The arena is not technically part of USC's campus, but it's adjacent. The Trojans used the venue as their home court from 1959-2006 before moving into the Galen Center just down the street.

UCLA has done a nice job UCLA-ifying the place, with blue uplighting, blue signage, blue paint, a UCLA logo on the court and national championship banners hung from the rafters, but there is nothing they can do about the location of the venue so it will be interesting to see which team draws more fans.

"I’m not concerned at all," guard Tyler Lamb said. "We’re not playing to see how many fans go to the game, we’re playing to win. That’s the main thing. We are playing on SC’s campus, but I still feel like it’s a home game for us. We’ve been playing there all year and we’ve adjusted to it pretty well. I think we’re still going to get great fan support."

The Bruins (14-11, 7-6 Pac-12) haven't drawn particularly well at the Sports Arena, with an average of 5,510 in their 11 games there. The only saving grace is that USC (6-20, 1-12) isn't much of a draw either. The Trojans are averaging a conference-low 4,108 for home games, so the Bruins might not have to be too worried about the crowd being pro-USC.

But then again, this rivalry does tend to bring the fans out of the woodwork. The last time the teams met, there were 8,474 at the Galen Center--the biggest USC home crowd this season by more than 2,000.

"I really do want to see if we’re going to have more fans than them," guard Lazeric Jones said. "I’m sure we’ll get more of our fans out there. Hopefully I don’t have to go out and recruit fans."

The Bruins will be heavy favorites. Injury-plagued USC is enduring one of the worst seasons in school history with four key players out for the season. When UCLA played USC on Jan. 15, the Bruins won easily, 66-47, and that was before the Trojans lost starting forwards Aaron Fuller and Dewayne Dedmon.

Fuller (10.6 points, 5.9 rebounds) was the team's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder. Dedmon (7.6 points, 5.5 rebounds) was fourth in scoring and second in rebounding. The Trojans have lost 13 of their last 14 games and haven't scored more than 50 points in three consecutive games.

Still, the Bruins can ill-afford to take anyone lightly, let alone the crosstown rival.

"The bottom line is if USC beats us tomorrow, that will really be a feather in their cap with everything they’ve gone through," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "We know they’re going to come out and play really hard and play really tough."

LOS ANGELES -- What little hope UCLA had for this season disappeared into the rafters during a 73-63 loss to California on Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena.

Talk of running the table and winning the Pac-12 Conference wafted away as California clearly claimed its spot as the top team in the league with a convincing win on the road.

UCLA had hinted that it was poised for a late-season surge, but the Golden Bears dashed those hopes and the Bruins must now try to find a way to heal their bruised egos and figure out a way to salvage the season.

A run to the Pac-12 tournament title is about the only path to the NCAA tournament for UCLA at this point, but so long as California stands in the way, the Bruins seem to have no shot at that, either.

The Bruins have been competitive in every conference game this season except for the two against Cal. You could argue the Bruins should have won every conference game this season, except for the two tangos with the Golden Bears.

A victory Saturday would have kept some semblance of hope alive. Heck, a close loss might even let you think the Bruins (14-11, 7-6 Pac-12) could pull an upset over Cal (20-6, 10-3) should they meet sometime down the road. But the thorough and methodical pounding the Golden Bears delivered both times they played UCLA makes it pretty clear which is the superior team as the Bruins fell three games behind Cal with five conference games to play.

"It’s disappointing obviously," UCLA guard Jerime Anderson said. "We saw where we could have been and where we’re at now. We look at it like that was the game at hand and we needed to beat that Cal team just for our sake, but it didn’t go down like that today."

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