LOS ANGELES — He makes those shots every day at practice.

Now he would get a chance to make one of those shots on a cardinal-and-gold floor, with people sitting in the second deck, with the stopping distance rapidly dwindling on UCLA’s basketball ride.

Alec Wulff, senior, knew he was going to play Saturday night. Jaylen Hands, the starting freshman, was out with a bad ankle.

He came in with the Bruins leaking oil, trailing 30-20 at USC. After Aaron Holiday hit a 3-pointer, Wulff found himself with the basketball and with nobody in his face. Never mind that he hadn’t made a shot that counted in the calendar year of 2018 or that he had only played 15 minutes all season.

Wulff pulled up and shot. Boom.

The UCLA bench went into rave mode. Anyone looking for signs that might be omens marked it down. USC 30, UCLA 26, 7:05 left in the first half.

It wound up UCLA 83, USC 72. The Bruins got their 20th win, seized a bye in a Pac-12 Tournament that will determine whether they can find a room at the NCAA inn, and nailed their second-best pure road win of the season.

No, Wulff was not the proximate cause. Not when Aaron Holiday was scoring 34 points. And it wasn’t exactly Rudy scoring a touchdown, either. Wulff was an accomplished basketball and volleyball player at Laguna Beach and could be excelling at any number of lower-division basketball programs.

But in the first-half bleakness, that shot seemed to transfer energy. UCLA was still down three at halftime and down eight with 15:55 left. The Bruins sorted out their defense, took over the boards, and rode yet another full shift by Holiday to a season sweep (so far) of the Trojans.

“I thought it was enthusiasm,” Wulff said. “Everybody was pumped up on the bench, on the court. And we controlled (Jordan) McLaughlin a little bit.

“When that shot went up, they were all happy for me. They got to see me play some minutes. I was pretty open. There was another time when I was open, too.”

It might not have been UCLA’s best game of the season but it was its most communal. The Bruins shot 60 percent in the half and outrebounded the Trojans by six. USC missed 25 of its 35 second-half shots.

Kris Wilkes had his second consecutive 20-point game (22). Chris Smith was a factor on the break. Alex Olesinski swished a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Bruins up nine and send the reserves into another lather.

And when the Trojans finally got their feet moving and tried to make a run, Holiday vetoed it with a five-point flurry on consecutive plays.

“It just takes getting stops,” Holiday said. “We limited them to one shot and then we were able to get out on the break. If we can do that, they’re not scoring. Playing defense is really all we need to do. I know we can put up big numbers. If we just guard, that’s all we gotta do.”

Much has been said and written about the big men who could have been here (Cody Riley) and the ones who left early (Ike Anigbogu). But there’s little reason why the Bruins can’t be more consistent defensively. Only one of their opponents has shot 50 percent since Jan. 4, but six opponents have gotten 10 or more offensiive rebounds since Jan. 18. USC got nine Saturday.

GG Goloman takes away air under the basket when he hasn’t fouled himself into a sitting position. Thomas Welsh can have 7-foot impact. There’s a lot of ranginess among the rest of them, and Holiday is usually challenging the best perimeter players. A lot of it has to do with more careful offense – fewer mistakes and better shots to keep court balance.

“We made 13 threes and they made five,” UCLA coach Steve Alford said. “Those are the type of defensive numbers we’re looking for. We had to play a little more zone tonight but that was to make sure Aaron didn’t get a third foul. We didn’t always play it well, but I’d rather do that than risk not having him.”

The Bruins have wins over Kentucky and Wisconsin. In other years those would have looked better. They had a nice lead at Michigan and blew it. They lost twice to Colorado, and they lost to Arizona State two days after what appeared to be a landmark win at Arizona.

Unless they win the Pac-12 Tournament, they have placed their destiny into the hands of sleep-deprived, data-besotted athletic directors in a hotel suite in Indianapolis next Sunday.

The college basketball season is long enough for everybody, Alec Wulff included.