My notes on the debacle at Galen last night, SC blown out by Arizona 91-71
Well this doesn't end well as the #16 Trojans were no match for the #2 Wildcats. It's just a shame that it had to happen when all the factors had been lined up for a court-storming victory. A sell-out crowd, a 6-game winning streak, a feeling that SC should have won the contest in Tucson when up 6 pts with 6 minutes left (until Mobley's nose is fractured).Before we get to the carnage, let's go to the pregame in the Founder's Club. As expected for this hyped matchup and the season's final home game, Andy Enfield would be the speaker. He was again introduced by Mike Bohn and they sprayed compliments each other's way. My son would say out loud, but not loud enough, when Mike Bohn was going into his superlatives of Andy, "then give the man a raise!" With all of the stuff out there about the opening at Maryland, many fans are worried that SC will make the mistake of allowing Enfield to leave.
Andy spoke about the fact that even when you play teams that aren't as talented as you, you still have to win those games, and SC has been able to do that well all season, and comes in with a 25-4 record. He praised his team for being very mature and knowing how to win and for being tough, both physically and mentally. He talked about the great atmosphere in Eugene and how the fans at The Pit were right on top of you, but SC held it's composure, did not panic and pulled out the victory. He designed several of the final slip-screen plays where the defense first rolled to Drew leaving Mobley open for the inside score and later when they went with Mobley, leaving Drew open to make the game-winning shot. Leaving the arena, the duck fans were very vulgar, hurling insults and items at them as they exited. He said he and the team just smiled and waved.
I guess "White out" means that Isaiah is still unavailable with a wrist sprain. Ethan will start along with Mobley, Drew, Boogie and Chevez. Arizona is very good and Enfield said that SC would try to take away the 3-ptrs from them (obviously this was a fail). Andy thanked the fans for their support all season and hurried off to join his team. Up to the microphone next came SC PA announcer Leland Waters, who does stand-up comedy in his off hours. Who knew? He goes into a very good Mike Bohn impression and then when asked for jokes, tells the old "How do you get a bruin off your porch? Pay him for the pizza", and adds a twist with "How do you get a Wildcat out of your yard? Pay him for mowin the grass" Groans from the crowd, so Leland transistions into his impersonations of Christopher Walken as a basketball coach and Jack Nicholson as the Lakers' coach - these were very good I must admit.
Inside the arena, the student section is at a new record 2900 plus. Other than the basketball band in yellow, the 'white out' looks pretty successful throughout the arena, although there were a good number of vocal Arizona folks there (did you think it would be different?). Thankfully, they were dispersed and probably accounted for 10% of the seats. The Trojan Knights had D-R-E-W--L-E-A-G-U-E painted on their chests and player numbers on the back. The camera pans to two blue-clad bruin fans and DJ Malski says "seriously, why are you here?"
Looking around I spy Lincoln Riley sitting with Brandon Sosna, also Nelson Agholor (Patriots), Alijah Vera-Tucker (Jets), the philantrophist Caleb Williams fresh off delivering Beats headphones to the WOT basketballers, Brett Neilon, Gavin Morris, Compton Magic Coach Etop Udu Ema and rapper and USC Marshall grad 24KGoldn. Coming up the aisle to the press tables is the founder of a USC website, who recently appeared on an episode of The CW's All-American, where in a beach volleyball scene, character JJ said 'check out the guy in the blue shorts, he looks like my grandpa. - haha'
The national anthem is a stirring rendition peformed by Keith Williams, Jr. that brings the house down. At an SC game in 2015, the scheduled performer did not show and Galen Center usher Keith Williams was volunteered by his manager, Events Operations Coordinator Chris Sherman, on the spur of the moment to sing his first national anthem. Keith had grown up in the church and was a gospel singer, but this was something new for him and he grew to like it as much as the crowds enjoy it. He went on to be the national anthem singer at more than 20 Dodger games, including Opening Day, the NLCS and the World Series. This humble, always smiling man, really lights up the room and is loved by the fans at Galen.
As far as the game goes, I felt like a character in a Southwest Airlines commercial that 'wanted to get away'. The white out of the Wildcats became the blowout of the Trojans. Our team picked a bad time to give their worst performance. I had flashbacks to the Sports Arena in 2001, when SC was hammered by Arizona 105-61! I thought about Andy's first season and another 20-pt loss to the Wildcats 73-53 at Galen. But this one was worse! We were not a very good team those other times, but this time we were the 2nd best team in the conference, with a sell-out crowd eager to help us win and turn Galen into the place to be in LA.
The game was a real buzzkill. Arizona led end to end and were up by 24 pts at the half (51-27) and as many as 30 pts in the second half. The final score of 91-71 was closer than the game actually was. The Wildcats put on a clinic in 3-pt shooting, fast breaks, passing (they lead the nation in assists) and dunks. They just seemed to throw the ball up inside the paint and it would be turned into a rim rattling score. It was all too easy for them. They certainly looked like the No. 2 team in the country. For the game they shot 55.6% FGs and made 12 of 25 threes. SC shot 39.7% FGs and was 4 of 18 on 3s.
Arizona had 4 players in double figures led by conference POY favorite Benedict Mathurin's 19 and Kerr Kriisa's 18. They had 6 players hit at least one 3 pointer. SCs three leading scorers (Mobley, Drew and Boogie) were a combined 8-34 FGs (23.5%) and 1-9 on 3FGs.
To be honest USC is just not as talented as Arizona and cannot be competitive if they don't bring their A games. When they aren't clicking on offense, they usually rely on their defense (6th in the nation), but that formula didn't work in this game. They stunk at both offense and defense. If Arizona is on their game, like they were tonight, they can win it all. Because of their size they can match up with Gonzaga or anyone else. This is where SC wants to be, but continued good recruiting classes and fan support are required to build and sustain the gain. I think SC has a top-notch group of players coming in (5-star Vincent Iwuchukwu, 4-star Kijani Wright, 4-star Tre White, 3-star Oziyah Sellers) and good young players, who are on the rise. If Drew or Boogie come back for another year, the Trojans will rise to that next level.
On the subject of Drew and Boogie's future, two NBA scouts behind me were discussing them and concluded that Drew has a shot with some team because he is so versatile, but he needs to stop making turnovers. On Boogie they said 'he ain't going nowhere if he comes out, except to the G-League.'
SC did not play like a team in this game, they didn't share the ball and had only 9 assists. It was disappointing to see Chevez and Drew in the huddle yelling at each other.
So were there any positives? Well our bench outscored Arizona 33-28, led by Max who had a team high 14 pts (6-10 FGs, 2-2 3FGs), Reese with 9 pts (4-6 FGs, 1-1 3FGs) and Josh Morgan who in only 11 minutes scored 8 pts (4-6 FGs), grabbed 5 rebs and blocked a shot. These positives were more than offset by how bad our starters were.
This game was a letdown, a deflating experience, humiliating. SC has to have their best players score and carry the load, and tonight they did not come to play. Let's hope the team has learned some lessons from this experience and gets back to the type of performance they are capable of soon, like by Saturday, because the bruins are itching to end the 5 game losing streak to SC, some of their players have been calling it a 'do or die' or 'life and death' game. Will the Trojans be able to match the intensity of the bruins and bring their A game? We all hope so. We don't want to end the next game in Westwood with the same feeling we had after the defeat to Arizona, where Galen was turned into a chorus of U-of-A! U-of-A! chants.
Don't lose faith Trojan fans! Fight on! Beat the bruins! Fucla!
