USC escapes with a sloppy win over Washington in Pac-12 tournament

USC had withstood lots on its path to the Pac-12 Convention event. Brutal begins. Shut finishes. Prolonged defensive lapses and unlucky offensive slumps. In some way, the Trojans appeared to at all times nonetheless discover a means, even once they have been on the worst.

They have been fairly near that nadir once more Thursday, if not dragging alongside the naked backside of their all-too-familiar doldrums. They’d turned the ball over a season-high 23 instances. Their high scorers had fallen flat. Virtually each aspect of their 40 minutes pointed towards an inexcusable quarterfinal loss, its first within the Pac-12 event beneath coach Andy Enfield since his first season as coach.

However towards all odds, at the same time as third-seeded USC tried time and again within the remaining minute handy away its ham-fisted effort, it didn’t matter. The Trojans, regardless of all of it, nonetheless emerged unscathed, at the very least bodily so, in a 65-61 victory over sixth-seeded Washington. They superior to face second-seeded UCLA in a semifinal sport Friday night time at 8:30.

The Trojans escaped at the same time as the ultimate two of their turnovers got here within the final minute. With 37 seconds left, Max Agbonkpolo threw an errant move simply as USC had taken a four-point lead. When Washington minimize that result in two, Drew Peterson lowered his shoulder right into a Washington participant simply 10 seconds later, handing the Huskies yet one more probability. They promptly gave it away once more, as Isaiah Mobley had the ball stripped.

Nonetheless, even the barrage of ill-fated errors couldn’t assist Washington hit a shot late, as USC gave the Huskies each probability to ship the Trojans packing after one night time on the Pac-12 event. The Huskies missed 11 of their remaining 12 pictures.

And by some means, USC nonetheless had hassle placing away Washington.

After lugging its first shedding streak since final February with it to Las Vegas, USC regarded like a workforce that ended its common season on the improper be aware. The place the Trojans might’ve rapidly dispelled any issues Thursday a few potential postseason freefall, they as a substitute impressed extra questions on their trajectory within the upcoming NCAA event. Particularly how they may flip issues round or their sudden turnover downside — or how they may cease one other star guard like Terrell Brown Jr.

USC struggled mightily to decelerate Brown early because the all-conference choice opened by scoring Washington’s first 9 factors. Even because the Trojans blanketed Brown, providing assist from each course, the Huskies’ silky main scorer nonetheless sliced by way of the lane with ease.

He scored 16 factors within the sport’s first 16 minutes, and 21 factors within the first half, ending his early onslaught with a high-arcing, fallaway three-pointer with time ticking away within the first half.

He’d solely rating two extra within the second half, ending with 23. However whereas Brown put the burden of the Huskies’ offense on his again, the alternative was true of the Trojans’ high scorers, whom Enfield had known as on earlier this week to step up.

That wasn’t the case towards Washington. Neither Isaiah Mobley nor Drew Peterson made a lot of an impression, hitting simply seven of 16 pictures for 18 factors. Each have been held with out a made shot till 12 minutes into the primary half, when Mobley lastly hit a layup. For Peterson, it took practically quarter-hour earlier than he sank a jumper from the highest of the important thing.

Washington constructed an early lead over USC not solely by means of Brown incinerating USC’s protection, but additionally by forcing early turnovers, 5 of which got here within the first seven minutes.

These points would emerge once more after half, simply as USC appeared to regular its shaky begin. The Trojans fired off an 11-2 run, taking again the lead inside 5 minutes of the half, solely to show the ball over six instances over the subsequent 5 minutes.

These turnovers appeared as if they might be USC’s downfall. However once more, the Trojans escaped to dwell one other day in Las Vegas.