Because the drought approached seven minutes, catastrophe knocked at USC’s door.
Pictures merely refused to fall. Errant passes flew inexplicably out of bounds. Turnovers piled up at an alarming clip. Any rhythm the Trojans had discovered on their two-game Rocky Mountain journey apparently had been misplaced upon the crew touchdown in Los Angeles. The primary crowd at Galen Heart in additional than a month may solely look on in confusion at a crew that had regarded like one of many nation’s greatest the final time it performed in entrance of dwelling followers.
Nothing was working Monday evening till freshman Reese Dixon-Waters caught a go simply behind the three-point arc, 14 minutes into one among USC’s worst begins in latest reminiscence. The Trojans had misplaced practically as many turnovers (eight) as they'd scored factors (10). They'd missed 11 straight from the sector over practically seven scoreless minutes, recognizing Arizona State, one of many Pac-12 Convention’s worst groups, an early 12-point lead.
That’s when the wide-open freshman lifted up from lengthy vary and bid impending catastrophe adieu.
Dixon-Waters’ three-pointer was all it took to lastly open the floodgates, and from there there was nothing to cease the Trojans’ surge as USC rolled to a 78-56 victory over Arizona State that hardly regarded assured by a lot of the first half.
A leaky offense was out of the blue raging by the second, using a wave of momentum that it present in these closing minutes of the primary half. USC flew previous Arizona State and by no means regarded again. The Trojans clamped down on protection and dominated the boards, ending with a staggering 49-24 benefit on the glass.
“We performed good crew basketball on each ends the remainder of the sport,” USC coach Andy Enfield stated. “The bench actually helped us. It was a giant think about uplifting our vitality on the finish of the primary half and into the second half.”
For the second consecutive sport, Drew Peterson led USC (17-2, 7-2 Pac-12) in scoring, following up a 23-point efficiency in opposition to Utah with 16 factors in opposition to Arizona State (6-11, 2-5). Chevez Goodwin, Isaiah Mobley and Max Agbonkpolo every added 12 factors because the Trojans got here alive late.
However till Dixon-Waters hit one three-pointer, then one other, and Mobley adopted with one three-pointer, then one other, what ultimately grew to become a runaway victory appeared extra prone to finish in an inexplicable defeat. As an alternative, after practically seven scoreless minutes, it took simply two minutes to erase Arizona State’s lead for good.
For USC, it adopted a sample of less-than-stellar begins at dwelling for the reason that Trojans’ prolonged layoff by December, a sample the crew hoped it had kicked final week with a sweep of Colorado and Utah.
Simply 4 days earlier, USC’s season stood at an early crossroads in Colorado. After its undefeated begin was interrupted by a COVID-19 pause, the Trojans misplaced two of 4 heading right into a Rocky Mountain journey. Every of the earlier three seasons, USC was swept on that journey.
However USC ended a seven-game shedding streak to Colorado and accomplished the sweep in Utah two days later, using excessive because it returned dwelling. Just for every part to fall flat at first Monday.
That droop, although, would solely final roughly 14 minutes. Arizona State, taking part in with out its suspended coach Bobby Hurley, would come aside, and USC would get rolling quickly after, refusing to cease till a 12-point deficit had been reworked into a convincing 22-point victory and the house crowd, again after greater than a month away, had one thing to have a good time.
Publish-game bomb risk
Simply minutes after USC’s victory, Galen Heart was evacuated in mild of a risk claiming a truck full of explosives was parked exterior of the world. The risk was deemed non-credible by the Los Angeles Police Division, and the world was opened inside an hour of evacuation.
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