Briefly, since UCLA is about to tip off:
Doing its part to set up an all-local semifinal, USC hammered Cal on the boards -- with a 53-27 rebounding edge -- and held on to beat the Bears 79-75 after leading by 18 in the first half and 16 in the second.
"Rebounding was a big deal tonight," said coach Tim Floyd. "We get a point guard, (Daniel) Hackett, who goes back and gets nine boards. Taj (Gibson) gets 16, (DeMar) DeRozan gets 11 ... That was the big differential."
Gibson also had 21 points, DeRozan had 17 and Hackett had 15, but a couple of other players had huge impacts -- guard Marcus Simmons with his defense, and forward Leonard Washington, who made a big second-half contribution off the bench: eight minutes, six points, five rebounds.
"The way Leonard Washington came in and got big rebounds," said Gibson, "the way Marcus Simmons came in and played great defense on (Jerome) Randle the whole game, it was a full team effort."
Floyd said Simmons "was effective. I thought he got us going defensively in the first half, because point guards initiate defense, and he was at (Randle) at the 10-second line, and I thought everybody really responded. ... Randle got it going a little bit in the second half -- he's a terrific ballplayer -- but (Simmons) filled a role for us tonight."
Randle had seven points in the first half and finished with 18.