LOS ANGELES — Tears welled in Cori Close’s eyes. It was one of Londynn Jones’ final moments as a Bruin. The UCLA women’s basketball coach and player had plenty to celebrate: a Final Four run during which Jones played a vital part, albeit second fiddle for scoring alongside Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice and Co., and a three-season stretch of vital guard minutes.
But this was goodbye; Jones headed across town, switching out blue and gold for cardinal and gold. Two years ago, Jones handed USC its first loss of the season with a 21-point effort at a sold-out Pauley Pavilion. Now, Jones is spending her senior season as a Trojan, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Following USC’s season-opening victory over New Mexico State earlier this month, Jones was asked if she and her family burned all of their UCLA gear.
The Riverside native had an answer at the ready.
“We don’t wear blue anymore,” Jones said Nov. 4.
And why should she? Close understands. Jones’s coach of three years in Westwood cried at the team banquet for a reason, sharing with the shooting guard and her family how “instrumental” she was in the Bruins’ program. The competitive fervor that Jones shares on the court across three NCAA Tournament runs as a Bruin is at the heart of Close’s logic.
“She should be that passionate, and that’s the kind of competitor she’s always been,” Close said recently. “She didn’t wear red when she was in the Bruins’ uniform. And now I understand fully why she would say that now that she’s with them.”
Jones sure dons the red – or cardinal to be accurate – and she sure roars offensively too, leading No. 18 USC (4-2) to an 85-44 victory over Tennessee Tech (4-2) with a season-high 20 points off the bench on Tuesday night at the Galen Center. She helped pace the Trojans alongside freshman sensation Jazzy Davidson’s 20-point, 16-rebound performance, the 6-foot-1 guard’s first-career double-double. Jones shot a perfect 4 for 4 from behind the arc (7 for 9 overall) in just 24 minutes.
“She’s such a dynamic scorer, and she’s always at her own pace,” Davidson said of what she’s learning from Jones. “She doesn’t let the defense speed her up. So that’s something that I’ve learned from her. She gets her to spots really well.”
USC responded well to its two-point road loss to No. 19 Notre Dame last week. Tennessee Tech had shown comfort against fellow mid-major programs – overcoming in-state foes Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee State in recent games – but Davidson alone proved too much to handle.
The top freshman of her recruiting class, according to ESPN, swerved up and down the court, attacking the boards as if she were a center. Full effort on every possession has been Davidson’s calling card, and it was on full display. USC outrebounded Tennessee Tech 49-38.
Davidson said she believed the 16 boards were a career-high for any level. What makes the Trojans’ freshman guard so efficient on the glass?
“Just her effort is really exceptional on both sides of the ball,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “She’s really good at mistake response, like no one wants to make mistakes, but her effort is all over the place. And I think that she just has the will to go get that thing.”
Davidson also contributed two blocked shots to the Trojans’ team tally of 15 (the Golden Eagles had none), the most USC has tallied in a game since they accrued 18 in a 1984 game.
“I think that what was impressive about this is the length that we can put in a number of different places,” Gottlieb said. “I thought that (the blocks) were impressive.”
USC sophomore forward Vivian Iwuchukwu shot 5 for 6 from the field for a career-high 11 points. But it wasn’t her point total, nor three rebounds in 15 minutes that had Gottlieb and assistant coach Beth Burns smiling – it was the defensive effort from the 6-foot-3 big.
Gottlieb gushed over Iwuchukwu’s commitment to studying film with Burns – USC’s “defensive coordinator” on the baseline. Her scrappiness in the post paid off with two steals on Tuesday, tied for the team high.
It’s not always that fun to watch every defensive clip, but Viv really seeks out the feedback, has been in the gym a ton, and has been very hungry to get better,” Gottlieb said.
Iwuchukwu added: “Every time (Burns), just she tells me things to do on defense, I feel like I go out there and I really try to emphasize and do what I need to do.”
USC shot 52.4% from the field, while holding Tennessee Tech to just 21.5%.
Guards Cam Matthews and Chloe Larry powered the visitors with a team-high 12 points each.
USC next hosts Pepperdine on Friday at 2 p.m., with the game to be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.