USC holds off late Arizona State push to win regular-season finale
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley laid the stakes out simply for his team pregame: Beat USC, make the NCAA tournament; lose, go to the NIT. With the Sun Devils coming into the Galen Center energized and motivated, USC would have to respond, and short-handed, at that.
USC barely escaped with a 68-65 win, but only after a near-disastrous collapse under ASU’s desperation. The finish would be too close for comfort, similar to the sloppy note on which the game started for USC. The Trojans went five minutes without scoring, during which they turned the ball over five times.
USC led for the entire second half, but ASU guard Frankie Collins cut the Trojan lead to two with a 3-pointer with 1:10 to play. USC’s Tre White air-balled a 3, but Arizona State missed its chance to take the lead with 26 seconds left. USC guard Drew Peterson split free throws after an intentional foul and a Collins layup made it a one-point game.
ASU guard Frankie Collins tries to drive past USC fifth-year SR guard Drew Peterson (not his usual self with back problems) during the first half of the Trojans’ 68-65 win Saturday at Galen Center. “For him to deal with the pain and go out there, play 31 minutes and go out there and help us win,” coach Andy Enfield said, “he showed a lot of heart and toughness.”(Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)
After another intentional foul, smiling USC freshman Tre White hit both free throws to push the lead to three.
Peterson got in Collins’ space on a jump shot, and referees initially granted him three free throws. But after a review, they decided Collins’ foot was on the line and he split his shots from the charity stripe. USC center Joshua Morgan split his own free throws, and D.J. Horne’s attempt to tie at the buzzer was too long as USC (22-9, 14-6 in Pac-12) held on.
“We were trying to foul him, we didn’t do a good job of that,” Coach Andy Enfield said. “We made some mistakes. When you do those little things in the last three or four minutes of the game, that adds up. And it added up, and allowed them to get back in.”
At first, Arizona State (20-11, 11-9) ripped off a 9-0 run while the Trojans committed five turnovers in 4:39. Morgan went to the bench with two quick fouls. With freshman Vincent Iwuchukwu sidelined by a back injury, USC was getting killed by rebounds.
But after Arizona State took an 18-14 lead, reserve guard Oziyah Sellers started an 11-0 USC run with a 3-pointer as the Trojan defense shut down the Sun Devils.
ASU missed its final 12 shots of the first half. And while the Sun Devils grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, USC’s undersized defense held the visitors to three second-chance points in the period.
Morgan picked up two more fouls in the first 90 seconds of the second half. USC again had to rely on reserve forward Kijani Wright, and the freshman rotated well on defense.
He wasn’t perfect, but hustled to make up for any mistakes. After throwing away a pass intended for Kobe Johnson, Wright hustled back to force Arizona State to attempt a lob in transition. The pass was off target, and the layup attempt even more so. Wright grabbed the defensive rebound and passed ahead to start a fastbreak that resulted in a 3-pointer from Trojan difference-maker Boogie Ellis.
“Kijani Wright played his best game as a Trojan,” Enfield said. “Just a lot of energy, rebounding, defensively.”
The senior Ellis again led the Trojans in scoring with 28 points. He answered ASU’s initial 9-0 run with a 3-pointer and a floater off the glass to get USC into rhythm.
When the Trojans’ lead was cut to six in the second half, Ellis came back in and immediately scored eight straight USC points as the Trojans went back up 12. This stretch included a tough three-point play in which he yelled as he laid back on the court after the foul.
“Definitely a blessing to play at a level at Galen,” Ellis said. “I’m just happy and blessed to play my last seasons here.”
He was honored pregame for Senior Night alongside Peterson. The guard was a question mark prior to the game with the back spasms that limited him Thursday against Arizona. But he scored USC’s first basket and finished with nine points and five rebounds.
“I didn’t think I was going to play when I woke up this morning,” Peterson admitted. “But with the stakes of the game, being the last home game, I really tried to do everything to get on the floor. I’ve been a part of this program where we’re building every year and trending towards a program that goes to the tournament every year. It’s been great to be part of the building process for this program.”
“We’re always led by Boogie and Drew,” Enfield said.
The narrow win should presumably secure the Trojans a spot on the safe side of the NCAA tournament bubble, taking some of the pressure off next week’s trip to Las Vegas. USC was already locked into the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament. It’ll face the winner of sixth-seeded Arizona State vs. 11th-seeded Oregon State on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. PST.
ocregister.com
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I’m always a fan of this result, especially in this Trojan-dominated sport No. 4 USC Beach Volleyball Topples No. 1 UCLA to Stay Unbeaten The Trojans won their 42nd consecutive dual with a 3-2 victory over the Bruins LOS ANGELES – “The fourth-ranked USC beach volleyball team (6-0) defeated top-ranked and previously undefeated crosstown rival UCLA (9-1) in a 3-2 finish to conclude the Pac-12 South Invitational at Merle Norman Stadium on Sunday, March 5. “The Women of Troy have now won 42 consecutive duals dating back one year to March 5, 2022. The Trojans also improved to 78-11 all-time… Read more »
Finally some national recognition for Boogie!
https://twitter.com/USC_Hoops/status/1632842353991102465
First Day of Spring Practice:
https://twitter.com/uscfb/status/1632522611178754049
Did anyone else notice that Tackett Curtis (#13) was wearing a yellow jersey and running a play as what appeared to be a RB?
Andrew Vorhees tore his ACL at the combine and will be out of football for a year. Like a true Trojan he came back on crutches so he could do his bench press.
https://twitter.com/uscfb/status/1632860743283482664
A great reason why I do not think the combine is worth it. The great minds in the nfl have had several years to determine if Vorhees is a good enough player or not with miles and miles of video tape to look at.
ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s March Madness projection
Midwest Region
No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 USC: Northwestern’s the best post-trapping team in the country, outside of Houston. Chris Collins might have some schools calling this offseason. The Trojans have the defense and the lead guard to be a scary team to face off against in the Big Dance. Boogie Ellis is a threat to go nuclear every night, and Drew Peterson is a triple-double threat every time he steps on the court.
247sports.com
Chris Treviño @ChrisNTrevino (247Sports.com)
Weight changes per the updated USC roster
JR LB Eric Gentry (+5) 205
RFr ILB Garrison Madden (+15) 215
JR ILB Raesjon Davis (+15) 225
RFr DL Devan Thompkins (+30) 260
RSo OL Mason Murphy (+10) 310
RSr OL Cooper Lovelace (-20) 300
RSr OL Justin Dedich (-10) 295
JR QB Caleb Williams (+5) 220
RSr DL Tyrone Taleni (-10) 270
RFr DB Zion Branch (+10) 210
I wondered why Scott Wolf was “going on” about player’s weights. This morning’s buzz was about this very subject. Scott if you are reading this, ask Allen how he got the “edit feature” in his blog.
Has spring ball started?
Scott Wolf has rightfully earned the title of ” America’s worst beat writer”.
He is the only one in his profession( that I am aware of) that actively roots against the team he covers.
Before TBD came along, he was the only way to keep up on SC football. Thank God for Allen and John! Scott Wolf is the worst and he doesn’t even apologize for being so negative.
New Trojan Uniform Number Assignments What number did you wear if you played organized football at any level? I was #27 on varsity, even as an 83-pound Pop Warner player in 1965. Transfer Portal Additions 0 – RB MarShawn Lloyd 6 – DL Anthony Lucas 10 – RUSH Jamil Muhammad 13 – ILB Mason Cobb 15 – WR Dorian Singer 17 – DB Christian Roland-Wallace 37 – PK/K Eddie Czaplicki 52 – OL Jarrett Kingston 71 – OL Michael Tarquin 92 – DL Kyon Barrs 99 – DL Jack Sullivan Early Enrollee True Freshmen 1 – WR Zachariah Branch 8 – QB Malachi Nelson 21 – RB Quinten Joyner 24 – WR Makai Lemon 24… Read more »
I have a good uniform number story. I was a FB/LB at Palos Verdes HS. Before my junior year started, USC had a late-August/early September game (this would have been the 1974 team, I think). That was the first time I saw Mosi Tatupu play fullback in the old McKay Power I formation. I watched him just crush linebacker after linebacker when lead blocking for our tailback. That Monday at PVHS, we got to choose our numbers for the upcoming season. What else could I pick but the #36 that my new Trojan hero wore! Cool aftermath to this story… Read more »
After his playing career, Mosi Tatupu was the HFC at King Philip Regional High in Wrentham, Mass., where he coached his son, Lofa, who later lettered on USC’s 2003 and 2004 national championship teams and was a 2004 All-American LB. Lofa was later a Pro Bowl LB with the Seattle Seahawks.
https://news.usc.edu/30134/in-memoriam-mosi-tatupu-54/
taken from us way too early. CTE?
USC has had too many with those issues. ✌
Foreman is a 3 technique. Playing him standing up was a waste. Gentry is an outside backer. I think these changes are coming in part to our defense getting much better influx of talent.
Chris, You taught me something today (or caused me to learn something). Never knew what a three technique was. Just spent some time reading about it. And, NOW that I know what it is – totally agree. It was a huge waste to put Foreman at OLB (or I think sometimes in what is called the 5 technique). He is clearly a 3 technique. He is either going to make it or fail at that position. SC put Drake Jackson there and he failed at it. The NFL put back where he should have been in the first place and… Read more »
Sounds like Foreman and Thompkins are moving to down D lineman positions for spring ball.
Steve, I read the same thing about Foreman. It makes a lot of sense. He was completely asea at OLB except for one play against UCLA. Do you see that Tuli weighted in at 265 at the combine? Foreman can certainly play get up to that weight by August. His experience at OLB will certainly help in packages where he drops into coverage from the DE position.
Second comment – Foreman is very similar to Drake Jackson in size and athletic ability. SC played Drake at OLB. I just checked, Drake is now on the 49ers and playing DL. I think moving Foreman to DL is an intelligent move. He should not be playing OLB. In Grinch’s scheme, the OLB is called a “rush end”, but the position is really an OLB position as Grinch runs a 3-3-5 type D. I do not know who Thompkins is.
Meaning they are “hands on the ground” defensive players, right? Is that “3-technique”?
ATL, That is partially correct. It is lining up with hands on the ground off the outside shoulder of the guard.
That terminology came in after my playing days were over. Yes. I’m old.