UCLA and USC basketball: Trojans lead Bruins at halftime, 33-21

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The only thing UCLA fans could feel good about at halftime against USC tonight, when the Trojans led 33-21, was their rambunctious young football coach, Rick Neuheisel who came out hooting and hollering and touting his team’s EagleBank Bowl trophy.

‘It’s a start, but it’s not nearly a finish,’ Neuheisel shouted.

Speaking of starts, the Bruins’ basketball team got off to an awful one this evening, while the Trojans’ Dwight Lewis was sizzling.

UCLA trailed, 15-4, about seven minutes in, but fought back just before halftime to make it something of a ballgame.

USC held sizable advantages in rebounding (21 to 11) and shooting (48% to 32%) over the Bruins. Blame Lewis, too. At halftime, he has a game-high 17 points on seven-of-13 shooting, including three three-pointers.

USC (10-6 overall, 2-2 in Pacific 10 Conference play) is looking to snap a two-game losing streak.

UCLA (7-9, 2-2) has split its first four Pac-10 games, and is coming off a 70-59 loss at Stanford.

But back to Neuheisel, who was apart of a 2008 newspaper advertisement boasting that the ‘football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over.’

Neuheisel, speaking of USC’s recent hire of Lane Kiffin to replace Pete Carroll as the Trojans’ football coach, said at halftime, ‘You can see the landscape slightly shifting.’

That got some cheers.

But the Bruins’ basketball team, not so much. -- Baxter Holmes