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UCLA coach Ben Howland helped motivate the Bruins with an emotional halftime speech.

The scene inside the UCLA locker room was bleak when coach Ben Howland strode through the door at halftime Saturday. The Bruins trailed crosstown rival USC by 18 points. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. “It was like somebody died,” senior Dijon Thompson said. Howland broke the silence. Instead of diagramming plays on a chalkboard or launching into a verbal tirade, Howland kept his message simple, imploring the Bruins to play with more pride, toughness and tenacity in the second half. UCLA got the point, emerging from the locker room with a renewed sense of purpose and rallying for a crucial three-point victory. “We needed somebody to pump us up,” Lorenzo Mata said. “They were playing a lot harder than us. We needed to hear that or we wouldn’t have come out the way we did.” “It was like we’re his children,” Thompson said. “He didn’t want us to get beat up. He wanted us to fight.” And fight they did. UCLA controlled every facet of the game in the second half, limiting the Trojans to 11-for-30 shooting and out-rebounding USC 21-12. The Bruins opened the half on a 31-11 run that gave them their first lead of the game at 56-54. “You can’t play in a game of this magnitude and not come out and play with some kind of heart and some type of pride,” freshman Arron Afflalo said. “(Howland) said to play with some heart and some fire, and that’s what we did.”

ON THE REBOUND: It didn’t take long for Lorenzo Mata to regain his spot as UCLA’s primary backup at center. Less than one week after Howland met with him and encouraged him to be more physical, the freshman responded with his strongest performance in weeks. Mata played 13 minutes, tallying a season-high eight points including two key second-half putbacks. He also did a better job of holding his ground defensively against USC big men Gregg Guenther and Jeff McMillan. “After last week when coach told me that I wasn’t playing hard enough, I wanted to make a statement,” Mata said. “I wanted to show I’m tough, I’m back, and I’m here to stay.”

McKINNEY UPDATE: UCLA’s Matt McKinney has fully recovered from the heart condition that limited him to playing a handful of minutes at a time this season. His heart had not been beating fast enough to pump enough blood to his muscles during exercise. But a switch from one prescription drug to another to correct a stomach ailment seems to have solved the problem. McKinney logged nine minutes Saturday, scoring four points, snatching three rebounds, and playing solid defense. “Having his stamina issue figured out is really big for us,” Howland said. “He did a good job in both halves.”