Basketball

Since this contest featured L.A.'s two big universities, let's just say it was sort of like the first chemistry test of a new semester. The first chance to see whether all of the hard work -- the late nights spent studying, the boring lectures slogged through with the help of triple-shot lattes -- has been worth anything.

Talk about a game face. At Sunday's game against USC at Pauley Pavilion, Chinyere Ibekwe's expressions were that of a player pushed to the edge. The UCLA center/forward scowled fiercely any time a defender dug an elbow into her back. Her brow would furrow whenever she pulled down a board. And when she dived for a loose ball and reached out with one arm, her lips curled and her eyes flashed. "I try to play with a lot of passion," Ibekwe said after UCLA beat USC, 87-75.

An elbow to the face. Not enough to draw blood or even leave a mark. Just enough to heat things up. It was still early in Sunday night's game between USC and UCLA when Bruins center Drew Gordon stuck an elbow out at Trojans guard Daniel Hackett, who was doing a fair amount of talking. Mark the time at 10 minutes 37 seconds to play in the first half. The unofficial start of the college basketball season in Los Angeles.

Things were not going well for Nikola Dragovic -- his shot wasn't falling -- but his teammates had a simple message. "They told me to keep shooting," Dragovic said. Good advice. The forward's clutch points in the final minutes not only helped UCLA defeat USC on Sunday night, they also offered a glimpse of what could be. The ninth-ranked Bruins need Dragovic to become an outside threat.

Across Southern California, there are college basketball teams with records so dismal they might as well start talking about next year. Loyola Marymount is 1-16. UC Irvine is 4-11. Pepperdine, in its first season after the return of former coach Tom Asbury, is 4-13. It's a bit different at Long Beach State, where this year is looking pretty good -- and the words "last year" are forbidden. The 49ers, 6-25 last season, are 9-7 and lead the Big West Conference with a 4-0 record.

Oregon State's basketball coach said Tuesday he won't be available to answer questions on next Tuesday's Pacific 10 coaches' call. Reaction: This team went 0-18 in conference last season, finally scrounged up a win this month, and now this first-year coach is big-timing the media? This had better be really important. "I'll probably be standing somewhere outside," Craig Robinson joked. Robinson will go from hosting Washington on Saturday to toasting Washington on Tuesday.

Not long ago, the UCLA coaches posted a certain newspaper clipping in the locker room. The article, from the Tucson Citizen, quoted Arizona guard Nic Wise talking about his team's desire to win at UCLA this season, saying: "That's one thing we focus on every day in practice -- Pauley Pavilion." This from a team that is looking to break a string of seven losses to the Bruins. As UCLA swingman Michael Roll said: "We can't let that happen."

There was plenty to like about the way that UCLA opened up the Pacific 10 Conference schedule, winning three straight games on the road. But the players know their fast start means nothing if they don't take care of business at home. "There's no sense for us to be on the road and win all those games in other people's places if we can't protect our court," guard Darren Collison said.

USC's Daniel Hackett had the finest four-point game of his career Thursday night. He seemed to know it while having a little quality time with teammate DeMar DeRozan at midcourt while the last 20 seconds ran off the clock. They were soon joined by other Trojans players as a worn-out Arizona State team looked on. While the Trojans' 61-49 victory at the Galen Center was a fingerpainting mess at times, Hackett had produced a masterpiece.

The ups and why-won't-they-go-downs of a shooter could be seen in the pendulum-like play of USC's Dwight Lewis the last two weeks. There was the Oregon game in which he had 26 points, matching his career high. There was the woeful performance two days later against Oregon State, and the follow-up struggles against UCLA -- games USC lost by a total of eight points. Lewis had made four of his last 24 shots when he came off the bench against Arizona State on Thursday.