USC: Trojans get a chance for redemption against the Utes.
A year ago, the USC men’s basketball team was stopped in its tracks just as the postseason was about to begin.
Hot off of Jonah Mathews’ game-winning 3-pointer in the regular-season finale against UCLA, the Trojans felt primed for March before the outset of the pandemic ended the Pac-12 Tournament before USC could play.
“I feel like we would have made a deep tournament run just because of the energy we had coming off of that,” point guard Ethan Anderson said.
“We thought we could win games both at the Pac12 and the NCAA Tournament last year,” head coach Andy Enfield said. “We’d obviously have to go prove that, but our team was really excited to go play in Las Vegas last year.”
So let’s call this a mulligan.
The 24th-ranked Trojans (21-6 overall, 15-5 Pac12) are back in Sin City, again coming off a dramatic, last-second victory over the Bruins, this time courtesy of Tahj Eaddy. And barring any last-second COVID-19 complications, No. 2 seed USC will play seventh-seeded Utah in the quarterfinals today at 5:30 p.m.
The Utes (12-12, 9-11) opened the conference tournament on Wednesday with a 98-95 victory over Washington. Utah appeared to be on cruise control for much of the second half after building a 19-point lead behind 14-for-26 shooting from 3-point range.
But Washington was able to winnow the lead to three in the final seconds, scoring 60 points in the second half to make Utah sweat out the result before securing its date against the Trojans.
USC split its season series with the Utes, who presented a unique challenge this year for freshman center Evan Mobley, the newly crowned Pac-12 Player of the Year.
In the first game against Utah, Mobley failed to attempt a field goal in a 6446 USC win. What at first appeared to be an outlier became a concern when Mobley only scored 11 points on 2-for-7 shooting in the Trojans’ loss to the Utes two weeks ago, a defeat Enfield characterized as USC’s worst performance of the year.
Asked following that game why Utah gave Mobley so many issues, “It’s easier to take a big man out of a game because you can double-team him, you can make him pass the ball,” Enfield said. “Some of it is Evan. I don’t think he had one of his better games tonight.”
Much like against Washington on Wednesday, the Utes shot at a high rate from 3-point range in that last game against USC, making 9 of 15 attempts. That’s been a common refrain in the Trojans’ six losses this season.
As a whole, USC has allowed opponents to shoot 33.6% from 3-point range. That number jumps to 45.4% in games the Trojans have lost, so limiting the Utes from distance will be a key for USC today.