Luca Evans (OC Register)  —  STANFORD — They trudged out one by one from the locker room Saturday night, wearing their emotions in the hoods buried over their heads and the headphones draped halfway over their ears.

Bronny James (two of seven from the field, six points, three rebs, three assists, and a steal) stood with his back against the hallway, staring at a box-score sheet, frustration written across his face. Arrinten Page held a postgame reunion with Stanford’s Kanaan Carlyle, both freshmen once highly-touted prospects out of Georgia, Page chiding Carlyle that his Cardinals simply couldn’t miss. USC’s captain Boogie Ellis emerged last, eyes drooping, carrying a box of postgame food.

“We gotta have more pride,” Ellis said, softly, in a postgame conversation. “USC’s never been like this. This is not what we’re about. This is not our standard.”

The apocalypse hit at Maples Pavilion on Saturday night, the end of times dawning, USC eviscerated by Stanford 99-68 in the lowest point in a season of low points. Coaches flung their hands, and players barked at each other coming off the floor during timeouts, and James wrapped a towel around his face in frustration after being briefly subbed for a foul, and every facet of the program crumbled. Season-long fatal flaws compounded all at once across a 25-0 first half run for Stanford, USC’s bench visibly shell-shocked as the Cardinals dropped triple after triple.

“We made some defensive mistakes, but every time we made one, they made us pay,” head coach Andy Enfield said postgame. “That’s on us as a coaching staff, and players. We’re all in this together.”

They looked unmoored, though, across that run, fast and ruthless and ripping cardinal-red hearts out of chests. Down 23-14 after Stanford freshman Andrej Stojakovic hit a scrunch-up-your-nose-nasty step-back jumper, Enfield called a timeout, only for USC (9-15, 3-10 in Pac-12) to miss two jumpers before one of the more discombobulated offensive possessions of the year.

Visibly confused at the top of the arc as a play broke down, freshman Collier attempted to set an on-ball screen for Ellis that would’ve directed him right into the path of a posting-up Joshua Morgan. Morgan, subsequently, tried to set a screen for Ellis, only to be called for a moving pick.

Stojakovic hit another triple on the other end as Collier didn’t close out. Assistant coach Eric Mobley flung his hands on the bench. Collier traveled. Stojakovic drained another and bounded downcourt with his tongue out. Collier clapped his hands and threw a dirty glance in the direction of teammate DJ Rodman. The snowball picked up speed.

Up 29-14, Stanford (12-11, 7-6 in Pac-12) scored 11 more without an answer.

This is a group ripe with talent, enough that the tournament seemed like an inevitability before the season and not a fading last-gasp hope a few months earlier. This is a group with heart, Ellis taking a moment postgame to lament the hours of work put in this summer, the grind not yielding anywhere close to an expected end result.

“Just feel like, this whole season’s come down to us not doing the little things,” Ellis said postgame.

His words were written in the numbers. USC has had constant issues with taking care of the ball; they turned it over 12 times in the first half. They’ve had constant issues with free throws, shooting sub-70% on the year; they went 10-for-21 from the line against Stanford. They’ve had constant issues with rebounding; Stanford won the battle on the glass 41-25. They’ve had constant issues with closing out on shooters; Stanford drained a program-record 19 threes.

“We just didn’t play well enough defensively,” Enfield said postgame. “And it is disappointing. And so that’s on us, on me as a head coach. We’re not going to start pointing fingers.”

Ellis, though, deflected back onto players postgame when asked if he felt the group was still buying into the coaching staff’s messaging.

“They’re doing their best,” Ellis said. “I mean, it’s up – Coach Andy can draw up all the plays he wants, he can be the best coach, but if we don’t go out there and perform, that’s not on him.”

Collier led USC with 18 points and a couple threes, but shot 8-of-15 from the free throw line. Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud (42) torched USC with 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting, with Stojakovic adding 20 and Palos Verdes product Benny Gealer hitting four huge triples.

There’s a message on competing, Ellis said postgame, that Enfield repeats constantly to players: It’s you or him.

Him won, thoroughly and demonstratively, on Saturday night.

Stanford, which is 130-131 all-time against the Trojans, shot 56% (36 of 64) from the field, made 50% from three-point range and mauled the Trojans on the boards 41-25.

USC returns home to play Thursday against Utah.

ocregister.com

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