Donovan Dents epic heater leads UCLA basketball…
All season long, Donovan Dent has been knocked for his capturing.
Can’t make 3-pointers. Can’t make free throws. Struggles to end at the rim.
With each shot that fell through the web against his new archrival Tuesday night time, the UCLA level guard toppled each of those notions one by one.
Continually pulling up with confidence from past the arc, Dent’s 4 3-pointers in the first half doubled his earlier high for any recreation this season.
Dent completed with a season-high 30 factors while making 10 of 16 pictures and 5 of six 3-pointers. Getty Images
He was just getting began on the way in which to main the Bruins to an 81-62 victory over USC before the first sellout crowd in precisely two years inside Pauley Pavilion.
Three days after his game-winning coast-to-coast layup, Dent repeatedly thrilled the 13,659 followers with his epic capturing show. His 5 3-pointers weren’t far off the eight he had made all season before Tuesday.
Dent’s can’t-miss second got here when he flung up a 30-footer at the end of the shot clock halfway through the second half. It went in. Dent completed with a season-high 30 factors while making 10 of 16 pictures and 5 of six 3-pointers. He also made 5 of six free throws to go with seven assists and no turnovers for the Bruins (19-9 general, 11-6 Big Ten).
Dent turned the first UCLA participant to rating 30 factors against the Trojans since Aaron Holiday tallied 34 in March 2018.
It was UCLA’s third consecutive victory in the crosstown rivalry and may need portended lots of March promise if Dent can maintain this type of contact. Entering the sport, he had made just 16.7 p.c of his 3-pointers and 62.7 p.c of his free throws.
UCLA defenders smother a driving Trojan. Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
In what amounted to a 3-point contest in the first half, Dent upstaged USC’s Chad Baker-Mazara when Dent swished a step-back jumper over the outstretched arms of 7-foot-5 heart Gabe Dynes at the halftime buzzer, giving him 19 factors on six-for-nine capturing.
Baker-Mazara completed with 25 factors while making 5 of 9 3-pointers for the Trojans (18-10, 7-10).
UCLA trolled its rival before tipoff, exhibiting video scoreboard footage of USC coach Eric Musselman saying “That’s a homecourt advantage” from a yr in the past after the Trojans received trounced before a raucous crowd in this building.
There was a bit of revenge for the Trojans late in the first half when Baker-Mazara flung the ball off Eric Freeny’s face while falling out of bounds. The play was reviewed for a flagrant-1 foul that wasn’t called, incensing followers who booed.
With Dent on a heater, they went back to cheering soon enough.
What does it imply?
Bragging rights weren’t the half of it.
Each crew needed this win badly for NCAA match functions.
UCLA entered the day on the suitable aspect of the bubble according to most prognosticators, USC on the surface wanting in.
Those positions didn’t change after the Bruins held serve at home, making certain they didn’t waste the momentum generated by their breathless victory over Illinois. The groups will meet again in their remaining regular-season recreation on March 7 at the Galen Center.
Skyy Clark drains a three from the nook. Getty Images
Turning level
With USC mucking UCLA’s offense up for a lot of the first half, the Bruins finally received going in the ultimate minutes. Dent threw a lob to Xavier Booker for a dunk before Dent drove for a layup.
In a play that symbolized how issues had been going for the Trojans, UCLA guard Trent Perry grabbed a free ball that had ricocheted off Baker-Mazara for a layup in which he was fouled by Baker-Mazar. When Perry made the free throw to full the 3-point play, UCLA was up 36-27 and all of a sudden in control.
MVP
Three days after he logged a season-high 15 assists against Illinois, Dent switched into scoring mode.
Nobody appeared to thoughts.
UCLA will take this model of him every time he needs to show it.
Up next
Having struggled on the street for most of the season, UCLA is hoping for a breakthrough against Minnesota on Saturday. It may help that the Golden Gophers have misplaced 4 of their last six video games at Williams Arena, which is able to never be confused with Cameron Indoor Stadium in phrases of homecourt benefit.
USC ought to have a far more durable time Saturday at home against No. 12 Nebraska, which has been the shock crew of the Big Ten. A victory over the Cornhuskers would considerably improve the Trojans’ standing for the NCAA match.
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