USC junior guard Desmond Claude (1) defends UCLA junior Dylan Andrews (2) (Michael Young/L.A. Sentinel)

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team  defeated the USC Trojans 82-76. The Bruins pulled off the victory without junior forward Tyler Bilodeau. The Washington native Bilodeau has been contributing 13.9 points per game for the Bruins.

“Any win is a great win, period, end of story in [The Big 10] and we just won two in a row on the road without our leading scorer,” said UCLA head coach Mick Cronin. “Not many teams in the country gonna win on the road in a rivalry game against a great coach, a heck of a team with older guys without their leading scorer.”

This marks the first rivalry loss in the Eric Musselman era. USC Junior guard Desmond Claude shot slightly below his average of 16.1 points per game. However, grad student forward Rashaun Agee stepped up. He came off the bench to score a season-high of 21 points in the effort.

UCLA senior guard Kobe Johnson (0) spent the past three seasons at USC (Michael Young/L.A. Sentinel)

“I actually thought that [Agee] was phenomenal against their hard hedge and that was part of the game plan,” Musselman said. “We knew that they were going to double-team the ball.”

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A native of Chicago, Agee competed in New Mexico, Casper College of Wyoming, and Bowling Green before becoming a Trojan. In his final year with Bowling Green, he averaged 13.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

This season, he has contributed 7.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Agee noted how believing in himself and Musselman helped him be more efficient on the court. He also acknowledged his teammates who helped him on offense.

UCLA junior guard Skyy Clark (55) scored six points and three rebounds (Michael Young/L.A. Sentinel)

“My teammates got me in the right positions to score, they put me in a position to catch and go up for the ball, lay the ball up or anything,” Agee said.

Freshman guard Wesley Yates III contributed 19 points in the match-up. He explained how the team needs to improve in several different ways.

“It’s all about effort, rebounding. Sometimes being in the right spots, the ball just falls in your hands,” Yates III said. “Effort, being more disciplined, just boxing out I fell like it would help us a lot.”