Column: USC had a nice NCAA tournament run, but can Andy Enfield sustain it?
Dylan Hernandez (LA Times) — The shame wasn’t in the loss, but in how the game was lost.
USC wasn’t ready.
Coach Andy Enfield knew what was coming but failed to prepare his team for one of the most important games in program history.
The Trojans were confused.
And after 40 disorienting and disheartening minutes Tuesday night, they were out of the NCAA tournament, their visions of a March miracle destroyed by an 85-66 reality check from No.1 and unbeaten Gonzaga in the West Regional final.
USC was never in the game, down by seven points after only two minutes and 21 points after 14.
The Trojans couldn’t deal with Gonzaga’s defensive pressure, which they knew they would have to do. They couldn’t slow the Bulldogs down in transition, which they also knew they would have to do.
“I think our players made some mistakes,” Enfield said. “They’re college basketball players, and that’s what happens sometimes.
“They were prepared to play.”
But the game was over by halftime, at which point Gonzaga was ahead 49-30.
Over the first 20 minutes, the Trojans committed seven turnovers that resulted in nine points for the Bulldogs. At the break, Gonzaga also had a 32-16 edge in points in the paint and a 7-2 advantage in second-chance points.
“They were denying the wings a lot,” USC freshman Evan Mobley said. “A lot of our plays involve a lot of swinging the ball, but we couldn’t swing the ball because our wings weren’t open necessarily. So it would cause the guard to go one-on-one, and sometimes it would cause a turnover.”
The first play of the game was a sign of what was to come, as Gonzaga’s tallest starter, 6-foot-10 center Drew Timme, stole the ball from Trojans guard Tahj Eaddy.
The Trojans didn’t have an answer, not for the Bulldogs’ defense and certainly not for Timme, who scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half.
USC entered the game looking as if it had the talent required to threaten Gonzaga, but a legitimate challenge never materialized.
Moving forward, the question the Trojans’ athletic department will have to ask itself is whether Enfield reached his ceiling in this tournament.
As only the first USC team to advance to the Elite Eight in 20 years, these Trojans deserve to be celebrated.
But Enfield was hired to do more than this. He was expected to make the program relevant, both locally and nationally.
Doing that will require the Trojans to play at this level on close to an annual basis. But this particular team was built around an anticipated one-and-done player in Mobley and several transfers.
If as many players depart as expected, the Trojans won’t build on this tournament run next year as much as they will construct an entirely new team.
Kind of like what they had to do this season, when they returned only three players from their previous squad.
“We had a brand-new team, and they didn’t even get to know each other until school started,” Enfield said.
With campus closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Enfield pointed out, “Half of our team, we didn’t even meet in person until Sept.1.”
How the team came together in such a short period was cited by Enfield as evidence of what a special group it was.
He was right.
But there is a cost to starting from scratch at the beginning of the season, namely the ups and downs a team must endure to discover its identity. USC was one of the 10 most talented teams in the country — maybe even one of the top five — but was a No. 6 seed in this tournament.
Even with USC playing well in the postseason, the difference between a program that turns over its roster every year and one that doesn’t was painfully obvious in the loss to Gonzaga. The Bulldogs knew how to share the ball, how to defend as a group. That level of understanding takes years to develop, not months.
USC’s future seasons will determine how Enfield views this tournament, whether he refers back to it as part of his guide to success or reflects on the opening minutes of the Gonzaga game with regret, knowing it cost him his only chance of reaching a Final Four.
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We didn’t lose to Ucla. Who won both games with Ucla and who won in football…We lost to Gonzaga. Zags outplayed us. Fight on, Dylan.
I should point out that the author of this piece, Dylan Hernandez, is a UCLA grad. Surprise!
The Zags are favored by 14 over “lucky” UCLA, an amazingly big line for a Final Four game. I’ll lay the points.
The Crimson Tide made only 11 0f 25 FTs against UCLA. MICH made 6 of 11.
BAY is only favored by five over HOU. I say BAY wins this one by double-digits.
Then GONZO can take BAY to the woodshed for all the hardware. And we can say we all saw the famous 2021 Zag team that looked like nothing else we had ever seen before.
I know that I live in Spokane and I am force fed Gonzaga 24/7, but they’re talent is being underplayed. They are going to have three first round pics this year. They have 3-4 others who will be drafted this year or next. Looks like Ayayi and Nemhard might be first rounders with Suggs and Kispert. Timme will be drafted after those guys, crazy right? Cook and Watson will most likely leave for the NBA next year. That’s a collection of talent almost never seen. Few does coach a great style of basketball, but this team is crazy loaded. I… Read more »
GONZAGA was/is a pleasure to watch. And Few is a great, very smart coach who is a class act. He’s taken his lumps through the years, but usually wins big every year, and now has a team now that acts and plays like they know themselves so well, and have so many weapons, inside and out, that nothing rattles them. They just know they are going to beat you. The pressure of playing the Zags is immense, and their foot is always on the pedal. They played hard, but basically coasted against USC in the second half and still won… Read more »
Gonzaga will likely go down as the greatest team in at least the last 45 years! It looked like men playing against boys last night. SC having to play Zags in the Elite 8 was bad luck of the draw. Put them in any other region and they are Final 4. Reminds me of past very good Trojan teams that had to play second fiddle to the great Wooden teams.
Undefeated national champions since 1939:
1975-76 Indiana 32-0
1972-73 UCLA 30-0
1971-72 UCLA 30-0
1966-67 UCLA 30-0
1963-64 UCLA 30-0
1956-57 North Carolina 32-0
1955-56San Francisco29-0
Such typical USC/UCLA hoops karma. The bruins are perpetually blessed in this tortured L.A. arrangement for the Trojans.
USC, maybe with its best team ever, beats UCLA twice (okay, one was a miracle), enters the NCAA’s as a much better seed, yet can’t get into the Final Four while play-in UCLA miraculously squeezes in against teams missing good players and easy shots.
Now the big-time braggart, but mediocre Bruins will go down again as yet another UCLA Final Four team.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Johnny Juzang is defended by the Zags.
*Their talent
Colin Cowherd on GONZAGA: “Their offense doesn’t look like any other offense in the tournament. Their offense has no identifiable weaknesses, They can score with two bigs, both will play in the pros. One this year will be a lottery pick. They really have two clever point guards, so you can’t press them. They’re a brilliant passing team. Almost never take a bad shot. Rarely pick up the dribble. They’re well-coached with a solid bench. They can score quickly, but they’re also patient. They play fast but are never seemingly out of control. I’ve never seen a college team —… Read more »
I am not going to let last night tarnish the year. This season was a success by any measure. We should have won the conference, had a deep run in the tourney and boat raced the conference champ. Had the player of the year in the conference. Will finish in top 15 in country. Will put two more of our guys in the NBA. Well done Trojan basketball, well done.
You’ve captured my feelings perfectly Chris. Plus, recruiting is also going well — so now, the staff’s highest recruiting focus needs to focus on keeping the current squad as intact as possible. ✌
Current squad intact? Just who isn’t leaving TT? Rhetorical only.
USC needs athletic, better-shooting and ball-handling guards bad and if both Mosely’s go (yes, Evan is definitely out of here), I see another massive rebuild at USC immediately coming. Big revelation, huh?!
The good news is this was a brilliant season — for USC’s standards. The bad news…well, it’s over, and it came so fast and suddenly.
GONZAGA was way too good for USC, and will be way too good for UCLA, or anyone else they play too (BAY might get within 7). What a buzz saw that team is!
Season’s Final Words: Last night there were signs of trouble for the USC Trojans’ basketball team before the game even started. Their opponent, the talented Gonzaga Bulldogs, instead of practicing jump-shots, were working on layups, slam-dunks and victory posturing… When the game started it was over after 2-minutes as SC called a time-out and had all the signs of a loser except raising a white flag. The only other sport that can be over at the 2-minute mark is boxing– Cassius Clay over Sonny Liston in their second fight or Joe Louis taking out the ‘Bum of the Month.’ Bulldogs’… Read more »
I may sound like a broken record but I will say it again with even more data to back it up. Mark Few from Gonzaga is in his 22nd year as head coach for the Zags. This is his teams second FINAL FOUR. John Wooden the Wizard of Westwood coached UCLA for 16 seasons until they won their first of many many NCAA Titles in 1963. This is Coach Andy’s 8th season. We have won more games and been to the Dance more frequently under his watch. My conclusion to this sad day after a poor performance, give him more… Read more »
Very well said danielmcd1! I’m hoping for a miracle that Evan Mobley stays another year. He needs to develop his body before he takes on an NBA season, in my opinion. I’m sure Andy Enfield will encourage him to stay and the wild card may be that his Dad Eric, an assistant coach on Andy’s staff, may realize that another year of development in college would be a good thing for his son. Without Evan as a building block for next year, it will be difficult for SC to get into the tournament next year. We’ll need to rely on… Read more »
Good points, especially regarding Mobley. Timme is what an NBA ready center looks line, with the bulk, speed and skills. Mobley needs to mature into an adult body before moving on.
Thank you Golden Trojan! The next few months will be interesting to see what transpires in the NBA Draft and yay, Spring Football practice is underway.
Totally agree. Andy Enfield has recruited and coached the best team in SC B-Ball history (only competitor is the 72 team). Few has had 22 years to build his program. Wooden was given 16 years. This year, Andy’s team could have competed with any team in the nation but maybe three I have seen. Obviously, Gonzaga (which I think is at least 10 points better than the 2nd best team), Baylor and probably Houston. Having a top 5 team (and I think that is where this team finished) is quite an accomplishment. He has earned a few more years. Let’s… Read more »
Andy Enfield has to travel a long, long way to even be mentioned in the same breath as Few (who just mercilessly whipped him) and Wooden.
In fact, I would say that bringing up the name Wooden in the same context as Enfield is one of the funnier things I have ever heard in sports. Thanks for the laugh RJJ! 😂
To move the analogy to football, is Andy closer to Clay Helton (worst coach in Power 5) or Nick Saban?
Hah, hah. 😉 In the interest of giving Andy his just due, after suffering one of the biggest March Madness wipeouts I’ve had the pleasure of quickly dismissing, I’d say Andy fits right down the middle as of now. He needs to at least win a Pac-12 championship someday. Eight years was really enough time to give him on that one. He also needs to figure out whether he’s gonna try and live with one-and-dones, or build teams that aren’t replacing all the players constantly. I expect he’ll choose some combo approach, if he can get away with it. But… Read more »
Thanks for the reply. I think we are very close in how we view Enfield. I would NOT give him a large contract as if he were an elite coach – he clearly is not. I think he has two years remaining on his existing contract. I would wait a minimum of a year to see how he does and then I would provide incentives with a low base for him. Part of the incentives will be tied to attendance as well as record. My goal would be to see if he has reached his ceiling or not. If he… Read more »
I thought Enfield was heading into his final contractual year, but I could easily be wrong.
But his stock is high now, so he’ll want to get an extension way before the reality of the post-Mobley era colors the waters.
Absolutely — and although IMO no big time program will be aggressively after him, I’m confident he’ll get it (and he deserves one).
Why, in your humble opinion TT, would big-time programs not try hard to lure Enfield away from USC? Are they right in leaving him to USC?
I just think he needs more than one excellent season to become that attractive to a big-time program. But I could be wrong. (And I would doubt that Andy would want to step into a smaller, lesser known school.)
What would your view as Andy’s weaknesses?
Strengths?
He eems to recruit well — but of course, he’s got southern California weather, Hollywood, etc. for a brochure — and he has a likeable personality.
For weaknesses, he doesn’t seem to make great gametime adjustments — and free throw shooting just doesn’t seem to improve from year-to-year, and that just doesn’t compute for me.
The Andy Enfield at USC free throw issue is an all-timer.
Who would ever think that one of the greatest free throwers of all time wouldn’t be able to even partially pass that along to his teams? Nuts.
I hear Enfield thinks that USC is actually a good free-throwing team. Per his very own public statements, that’s what he thinks. Go figure.
This run was fun, but honestly Andy just needs to keep beating the Bruins every time we play. I get SO much juice out of that!
Me too. Had Andy lost those two games to UCLA this season, would we even be having this conversation? I don’t think so.
I’m right there with you Rock2112. I’m pumped when we beat the Little Gutties in any sport!