Boogie Ellis, the Mick Cronin-described ‘Bruin Killer’, leads USC again in win over UCLA – Daily News

LOS ANGELES — His life revolves around basketball, Boogie Ellis says, and it’s apparent in his face.

That life, for years, has been carefully constructed on routine — staying later than anyone else in cardinal and gold after practices, honing his shot relentlessly, grinding in the summers. When routine doesn’t lead to results, negativity seeps into Ellis’ worldview, easy to see across the past month as USC’s season has slipped away. I’m pretty hard on myselfEllis mumbled after Thursday’s practice; whichever way the ball bounces affects his very state of being, and it has bounced too often away in Ellis’ last year at USC.

“But you gotta stay strong,” Ellis said Thursday, stoic. “Keep pushing.”

He pushed from the very tip at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night, potentially his final game against bitter rival UCLA in a standout USC career. At numerous points where it seemed USC could bend to the point of breaking, through an end-of-first-half implosion and late sloppiness, he and fellow captain Kobe Johnson held the Trojans together in a 62-56 win — Ellis finishing with 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting, authoring one final performance as the Mick Cronin-described “Bruin killer.”

There was little left to play for, really, on Saturday night for Ellis and USC besides simple pride. In September, his first time speaking to media in a new year, Ellis rationalized his reason for a return as a super-senior as “the opportunity to win a national championship,” a dream that’s been dashed for months. USC’s only shot at March dwindled to a run through the Pac-12 tournament as Ellis was beset by a variety of injuries, most notably a hamstring issue in mid-January, knocking him out for a few games and leaving him hobbled for weeks even when he did return.

“He came back, he looked older than me trying to play,” head coach Andy Enfield cracked postgame Saturday.

“He just wasn’t – he had no explosiveness, no change of speeds, no change of directions,” Enfield continued. “And I give him a lot of credit. He’s a very, very tough young man.”

A sense of urgency rippled through his jabs and cuts off screens against UCLA (14-13, 9-7 in Pac-12), perhaps a USC senior realizing just a few games remained until his draft stock was fully solidified, perhaps a USC senior who simply wanted to beat UCLA for what could be the last time. Ellis flared off one first-half screen on an inbound, fading and falling to his right, draining a triple in a shot reminiscent of Damian Lillard’s best work. He flew down the lane a possession later, lofting a floater to force a goaltend from UCLA’s Adem Bona, Bruins coach Mick Cronin so incensed he immediately signaled for a timeout.

With five minutes left in the half, big Vincent Iwuchukwu — who left his own mark warding off Bona all night — glanced over at the scoreboard. Ellis had 17. That’s a quiet 17Iwuchukwu recalled thinking.

“But man, Boogie’s impact is so much bigger than just the offense,” Iwuchukwu said postgame.

It was felt in the locker room, after USC (11-16, 5-11 in Pac-12) closed the first half horribly, their bigs falling into foul trouble as UCLA mounted a 17-4 run before the break. Ellis, understanding these Trojans have too often faltered when teams made runs, told guys to focus on getting quality shots in the second half, he said.

And it was felt in Ellis’ demeanor in the second half, scoring just six points on a variety of layups but gritting tough in helping USC ward off the Bruins in an ugly final frame. He finished with five boards, tying for a USC game high on a team that’s struggled massively to rebound, going into a throng and simply ripping the ball away from the Bruins early in the second half.

“I’ve let my team down this year when it comes to rebounding … coming here forward, I’m going to try to really emphasize helping out on the boards,” Ellis said postgame, ever-quick to pin blame on his own shoulders.

And when his shot fell short at times in the second half, co-captain Kobe Johnson stepped up, nabbing a key handful of second-half steals and hitting a massive corner three to put USC up 11 with three minutes to play. It was enough to escape with a win, Ellis’ first against UCLA at Pauley in his USC career. And a season of grit, for one moment, had paid off.

“I’m glad,” Ellis said postgame, “that I’m back to myself.”