LOS ANGELES — At the sound of the final buzzer in Wednesday night’s game, the USC men’s basketball players embraced as they walked off the court, breathing a sigh of relief with a weight lifted off their shoulders – one step closer to sneaking into postseason play.
Once a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, first-year head coach Eric Musselman finds his team fighting just to get into the 15-team Big Ten Tournament. It’s not where he thought his squad would be, but the Trojans have fallen hard of late, losing seven of their past eight games.
“When you’ve lost seven out of eight, it’s never easy on anybody,” Musselman said. “I’ve been through it. You can’t let this team see a flinch, and you’ve got to continue with your same preparation.”
USC (15-15 overall, 7-12 Big Ten) strengthened its hopes Wednesday with a 92-61 drubbing of last-place Washington to move into a five-way tie for 11th place in the conference standings.
Musselman’s emotions are always high, especially in a must-win environment. At times, he voiced his frustration to the referees, and other moments saw him become animated over turnovers – spinning around, falling to one knee in agony, even when the game was out of reach.
“I wear my emotion on my sleeve,” Musselman said, chuckling. “You try to coach for perfection every possession. I don’t care if we’re down 30 or up 30. … Some of my theatrics, my wife tells me, are embarrassing, but I’m not going to probably change at my age.”
The Trojans played some of their best basketball in recent weeks against the Huskies, taking the court focused and motivated and securing their largest margin of victory this season.
“Normally, teams separate from each other, but we kept meeting,” point guard Desmond Claude said of the team pushing through its recent rough stretch. “We did a pretty solid job bouncing back. … We had each other’s back on defense, and if we do that, I believe we could beat anybody.”
Claude had 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting and dished out 11 assists, playing a key role in the team’s crisp ball movement. Claude, who has struggled with turnovers at times this season, had just two on a night when USC had 24 assists on its 31 field goals – efficiency that drew praise from Musselman.
Claude, Chibuzo Agbo and Rashaun Agee set the pace. Agbo led all scorers with a season-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting (7 for 10 from 3-point range) to go with six rebounds. Agee added 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting (4 for 5 from 3-point range) and five rebounds for the Trojans, who shot 56.4% overall and a sizzling 15 for 26 from 3-point range.
Despite being at the bottom of the standings, the Huskies (13-17, 4-15) didn’t make it easy for the Trojans and tried to play the role of spoiler but USC rode its strong shooting to an 18-point lead late in the first half before taking a 47-35 lead to the locker room at halftime.
The Huskies pulled within eight early in the second half before USC gradually pulled away. Rolling with 8:40 left, Agbo – a graduate transfer playing his final game at Galen Center – caught the ball at the top of the arc, squared up and drilled a 3-pointer that extended the lead to 20 points and seemed to extinguish any hopes the Huskies had of staging a comeback.
“’Buzo has shot the ball from three at a really good clip, and tonight he shot the ball like an NBA player,” Musselman said.
From the start, the Trojans faced tough, physical play, often getting knocked down. But they fought for second-chance points, battled for the rebound advantage, and drove to the basket, drawing hard fouls and converting three-point plays with a near-perfect night at the free-throw line (15 for 16).
Agee went toe-to-toe with the Huskies physically, establishing himself as a dominant presence in the post on both ends of the court. Early on, he attacked Washington’s defenders with aggressive drives, initiating contact and finishing strong, flexing his 6-foot-8 frame.
He was relentless on the boards, soaring for rebounds and ripping the ball away from defenders. His intensity hit another level when he let out a roar after securing a tough board, then stepped back in transition to drain a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
On the next possession, he found himself in the same spot and buried another, pointing to the crowd in celebration.
With the goal of injecting energy on a night when the team needed it most, Agee tapped into the passion he says is in his “DNA,” hoping to secure a win – especially on senior day – to give the seniors one more shot at the postseason.
The Trojans own a head-to-head tiebreaker against 16th-place Iowa (15-14, 6-12), so they would qualify for the Big Ten Tournament if they finish with the same record. All the pressure is on Iowa, which faces a must-win situation against No. 5 Michigan State on Thursday night (before a season finale on Sunday at Nebraska).
A victory by the first-place Michigan State would guarantee USC a trip to Indianapolis, no matter how the Trojans do against UCLA, though seeding won’t be settled until the weekend.
NOTES
Mekhi Mason scored 19 points and Great Osobor had 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Washington, which lost its fifth in a row overall and 11th straight against the Trojans. DJ Davis added 13 points. … Tyler Harris, the Huskies’ second-leading scorer (11.9 ppg), didn’t play because of an ankle injury.
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