Turning point for Jefferson? If he doesn't do anything stupid

LOS ANGELES -- The celebration started when the final buzzer sounded, and O.J. Mayo hugged Daniel Hackett to provide the perfect shot for the television cameras. So the television cameras were all over it, from every imaginable angle. And while all this was happening, Davon Jefferson stood on the baseline mostly alone, popping his USC jersey for the few still photographers who weren't focused on his more-celebrated teammate or a distraught Kevin Love.

Davon Jefferson, a 6-foot-8 forward, makes 10-of-15 shots to end with 25 points. (US Presswire)

And Jefferson went to the locker room like everybody else.

So yeah, it's difficult to break free of O.J.'s gigantic shadow.

Even when you score a career-high 25 points in a 72-63 win over UCLA.

"I'm used to that," Jefferson said. "I just try to contribute as much as I can."

The game was billed as Mayo vs. Love, a celebration of two of the top freshmen in America. That's why writers from coast to coast flew to the West Coast this weekend, why Magic Johnson found a seat in the crowd. But by the time the Bruins had dropped their second home game of the season, all the talk was about the other freshman on the court, the one named Jerry Davon Jefferson who has to be the best 21-year-old first-year player in the nation.

Yep, that's right.

He's a 21-year-old first-year player, a widely recognized knucklehead whose career has nearly been sabotaged by academics and/or poor decisions too many times to count. I mean, just two games ago, he was benched by Tim Floyd for basically being, well, a knucklehead. But the thing about knuckleheads is that sometimes they are the best playmakers around, which brings me back to Saturday here at Pauley Pavilion.

Mayo was very good (16 points on 12 shots).

Love was very good (18 points and 12 rebounds).

But the star of the show was Jefferson, who sliced and diced and dunked his way to the best performance of his career and on the biggest stage he's ever performed. The 6-foot-8 forward made 10-of-15 shots to get those 25 points, the last three of which came on a three-point play courtesy of a baseline dunk on which Love fouled him with 29.2 seconds remaining.

It was a stellar move, the kind that exhibited exactly why Jefferson has been on the verge of making the NBA seemingly forever. But a quiet scene in the locker room afterward provided why the talented prospect might never make the NBA, when an assistant pulled him aside to say, "Don't do anything stupid tonight."