SOMETHING A MYTH WITH THIS `RIVALRY'.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

I went to Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night to check out a rumor.

People in Los Angeles were talking about a college basketball rivalry. But you can't believe everything you hear. They were talking about a subway, too.

There is circumstantial evidence that UCLA and USC have a basketball rivalry and not merely a series.

The Los Angeles Athletic Club held a luncheon on Tuesday to honor the two teams. One of the coaches and about one-third of the players attended.

There, I asked an enthusiastic Bruins booster when was the last time she was this excited about a game against the Trojans.

``Basketball?'' she said.

``Never.''

She said she lived out of state in the heyday of UCLA-USC 26 years ago. Wednesday's players, if you think about it, were out of state then, too.

Bruins forward J.R. Henderson took on the Trojans in the obligatory war of words. He dismissed them as ``just SC.'' They said, in effect, call us anything, just don't call us Southern Cal.

L.A. radio guys were getting carried away talking about the game. Somebody on KNX-AM (1070) said both teams were playing ``above expectations.'' Hey, wasn't UCLA ranked No. 5 at the start of the season?

Shortly before tipoff, some UCLA football players rolled out the Victory Bell, emblematic of their six straight victories over USC in that sport, and rang it at midcourt.

Dueling bands. Dueling cheerleaders. A sellout crowd at Pauley Pavilion - the first this season.

This happens every few years. The Trojans play, yes, above expectations, their games with the Bruins actually mean something, and everybody gets excited. Oh, to be Duke-North Carolina, to be Kentucky-Louisville.

``When I was at Purdue (assisting) Gene Keady, the Purdue-Indiana game was kind of like this,'' UCLA coach Steve Lavin said of the hopeful hoopla.

But hoopla alone doesn't make a rivalry. UCLA was trying to win its sixth straight meeting with the school across town. When that happens in football, it's a noteworthy reversal of form, a case of a gutty little underdog having the big guy's number.

UCLA beating USC in basketball, which it did by an 82-60 score Wednesday, is a little less charming.

I liked something else Lavin said at the Athletic Club lunch.

``The players determine the game,'' he said. ``It's not what's in the newspapers.''

Let me tell you what kind of game the players determined as they battled for at least a share of first place in the Pacific-10.

First of all, UCLA shot 36.4 percent in the first half and led 29-28.

The Bruins went scoreless in their first four trips down the floor. This must be what Lavin means when he speak of improving ``brick by brick.''

There was emotion worthy of an occasion. Brandon Loyd, killing time for Dollar, hit a 3-pointer and clenched his fist triumphantly. Stais Boseman answered that with a 3-pointer of his own.

The Trojans were on their way to an upset, leading by eight points after eight minutes.

``The good news is that we're only down eight,'' Lavin told his players. ``The bad news is this is the worst game we've played all year.''

``We seemed a little tight,'' Lavin said later. ``Maybe it was the great expectations of trying to live up to J.R. Henderson's Muhammad Ali statements.''

Henderson, obliged to back up his big talk, had two points and three fouls to show for the half and finished with a season-low six points. Bruins leader Charles O'Bannon couldn't score for the first 13 minutes.

Of course, USC had led by nine in the teams' first meeting of the season, and UCLA came back to win that one by nine.

So it went this time. The Trojans led 21-13 before scoring just once in 10 possessions. Darn their luck, O'Bannon came alive at the same time, jamming home a Toby Bailey lob, then feeding Kris Johnson, then hitting a short jumper, then making a free throw, then making two free throws, then taking another short jumper and giving UCLA its first lead at 27-26.

Henderson committed his fourth foul early in the second half and sat down. O'Bannon went to the bench for four minutes to have the Bruins' cut man work on his forehead.

Even so, the Trojans couldn't keep up. Bailey scored 11 points, including back-to-back-breaking 3-pointers, in a 25-8 run. By then the great rivalry was looking the same as ever. A rumor.