No. 19 USC offense stalls in loss to No. 7 Arizona

The Trojans shoot 34%, missing their final nine shots, to fall 72-63 against their first ranked opponent all season

Adam Grosbard (OC Register)  —  All afternoon, No. 19 USC did just enough to keep pace with No. 7 Arizona. Each time the Wildcats went on a run, the Trojans managed to stem the tide and keep within a possession or two and keep alive the hope of an upset at the raucous McKale Memorial Center.

But when a 10-0 Arizona run turned USC’s biggest lead of the game into a four-point deficit, the Trojan offense disappeared.

USC missed its final nine field-goal attempts, including four in a 24-second span while down by two, to fall to the Wildcats, 72-63, and let the opportunity for a signature win slip away.

“It’s just disappointing that we couldn’t finish the game,” head coach Andy Enfield told the USC radio postgame show.

Isaiah Mobley was the only Trojan in double-digits with 15 points as USC shot 34.3% from the floor. Arizona forward Azoulas Tubelis led all scorers with 18.

USC (19-4, 9-4 Pac-12) stayed tight with Arizona (19-2, 9-1) – its first ranked opponent all season – early in the game. A three-minute scoreless drought by the Wildcats allowed USC to go up five.

But missed shots and turnovers by the Trojans allowed Arizona to do what it does best, run with the ball. An alley-oop dunk to Dalen Terry made it a 9-0 run and forced an Andy Enfield timeout.

Despite six consecutive missed shots, an Isaiah Mobley jumper got USC within two, and Anderson tied it soon after. The teams traded baskets and the lead, but USC’s eight offensive rebounds in the first 15 minutes slowed the game and took away Arizona’s transition game.

Despite early success attacking the rim, USC became overly reliant on 3-point attempts without much success. The Trojans missed 13 of their first 14 attempts, including a stretch in which USC misfired from distance in five out of six possessions.

Despite shooting 35.1% from the floor and Arizona’s 50% mark in the first half, USC got within one when Anderson chucked up a two with a foot on the line at the halftime buzzer.

After a quiet first half, Mobley was aggressive from the jump in the second. He hit a layup on the opening possession and attempted as many shots (four) in the first two-and-a-half minutes as he did in the entire first half.

But the Trojans struggled to break through, with only Mobley, Anderson and a hot-shooting Isaiah White supporting them offensively. Then the cavalry arrived.

After they missed their first 13 shots combined, Boogie Ellis’ back-to-back 3s and Drew Peterson’s four straight points put USC back in the lead.

It grew to six with 6:29 to play, but that’s when Tubelis sparked his team with a three-point play, followed by a Kerr Kriisa 3-pointer to tie the game. Enfield called a timeout, but a Peterson miss led to a transition dunk from Tubelis to give the Wildcats the lead for good.

USC could have tied the game up with 3:45 to play. But a Mobley miss from 3 turned into a blocked jumper by Peterson and missed 3-pointers by Peterson and Ellis, all on the same possession. Christian Koloko hit a hook shot on the other end of the court to make it a four-point game.

Peterson finished the game 1-for-13 from the floor, while Ellis shot 3-for-12 after an early collision with Terry left him rattled in the first half.

Enfield told the radio postgame show that he felt USC played well within its offense, pointing to 18 assists on 24 field goals. The Trojans just missed good shots, including 23 of 30 from 3-point range, while only turning 19 offensive rebounds into nine second-chance points.

“We played well today, just not well enough to win,” Enfield said.

ocregister.com

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