My notes on SC’s 71-55 victory over Utah
USC (12-5, 4-2) is going for a 9th straight home win vs the Utah Runnin' Utes (12-6, 5-2), coming off a loss at UCLA, without best player Branden Carlson. UU has wins over Long Island U, CSU Bakersfield, Idaho St, GaTech, St Thomas, Arizona! WSU, Jacksonville St, UTSA, Cal, Stanford, OSU. Losses to Sam Houston St, Miss St, BYU, TCU, Oregon, ucla. SC swept UU last season, has won 4 of 5, but trails the series 24-26.
UU’s coach Craig Smith is in his 2nd year (3 yrs at Utah St. (72-24), made NCAA tournament – but cancelled by Covid). He replaced Enfield hater Larry Krystkowiak, who once told Andy “You are not in my league!” I hated that arrogant SOB! Utah has 1 national championship (1944), 4 Final Fours (last 1998), 29 NCAA appearances (10 under Rick Majerus – SC’s coach for 3 days in 2004!). Utah has been Pac-12 since 2010 with no conference or tourney titles. They had Naismith POY – Andrew Bogut in 2005 and Pac-12 POY Jakob Poeltl in 2016.
UU is led by Branden Carlson 15.7ppg (No. 6 in Pac – Boogie is No. 7 at 15.6 ppg), Gabe Madsen (12.2), Marco Anthony (11.0), Lazar Stefanovic (10.3) ppg. Statistically they almost mirror SC, except for 3FGs!
UU - 71.7 ppg, 45.4% FGs, 34.5% 3FGs, 70.6% FTs
SC – 71.2 ppg, 45.9% FGs, 31.2% 3FGs, 71.5% FTs
UU likes to shoot 3s: Carlson 39.6% 3FGs (No. 7 in Pac, 21 made), Madsen 38.1% (No. 11, 45 made, 6.6 att/g), Lazar 37.7%, (No. 12, 26 made). Boogie leads SC with 36.6% 3FGs (No. 18, 34 made).
The Utes are 2nd in Pac in rebounds at 40.4 rebs/g (+5.3), led by Carlson 7.4 rpg (No. 4 in Pac) and Anthony 6.9 rpg (No. 8 in Pac).
SC is 6th in Pac at 35.5 rebs/g (-1.0), led by Drew 6.5 rpg (No. 11), Josh 5.2 rpg (No. 18) and Tre 5.0 rpg (No. 24).
Rollie Worster leads UU with 87 assists (4.8 apg, No. 5 in Pac). Drew leads SC with 85 assists (5.0 apg, No. 4 in Pac), Kobe is No. 13 at 4.6 apg.
Josh is No. 1 in Pac with 47 blks (2.8 bpg), Carlson is No. 2 with 38 blks (2.24 bpg).
SC is ranked 62 in KenPom and 75 NET. UU is 55 in KenPom and 53 NET.
On a rainy day in LA, I’m not expecting a large crowd, but the Founder’s Room and arena are surprisingly full (announced attendance 4671).
In the FR, I spot USC Hall of Fame sportswriter/columnist/author Steve Bisheff and former player and ‘Bleav in USC Basketball’ podcaster Chris Penrose (2004-07).
Chris Capko is the guest speaker and his “USC Hoops is Life” sweatshirt is getting kudos. He recaps the past several games and says “it’s no secret but we haven’t shot the ball well all year. What we have done well is defend.” He notes our poor outside shooting (31.2% 3FGs) has cost us games and promises we will break out soon and the shots will fall. They still have confidence in Oziyah and will continue to try to get him minutes. Capko keeps hoping Oziyah hits his first shot and then that will lead to another.
FT shooting, last season’s issue, is no longer being asked about. The team is shooting well at the line (71.5%) and has really stepped it up in conference play (Kobe is over 92% in Pac games, 85% overall). The new elephant in the room is rebounding. Someone comments that Utah is +5.3 in rebs vs. opponents and we are -1.0. Capko says they continue to focus on getting better at crashing the boards, work hard on it in practice and are hopeful that Vince’s size will help. He can’t remember having a team that got outrebounded on the season.
Capko was asked if we have envisioned using Josh and Vince together. He reminds everyone that Vince is still a freshman catching up after missing all of summer camp, fall camp, 2 scrimmages and 16 games. They are trying to keep it simple for him and not have him learning extra stuff. He is going to know more over time and eventually they can play 2 bigs at once.
Branden Carlson missed the game against ucla, but will be back to face us (of course). Coach says he is having a POY type season.
The arena is filling up nicely on the lower and upper levels, DJ Malski is giving his Basketball Cheering 101 talk to the students, some new this semester. The Band, Dance Force, Song Girls and Spirit Squad are well represented. The football coaches and recruiting staff are holding an Elite Prospect Day over at the Coli, with campus tours and they might pass thru the arena – you never know. One elite recruit on his official visit right now – is the nation’s top uncommitted CB and track superstar- Rodrick Pleasant from Gardena Serra. He is arguably the fastest player in the 2023 class with a PR of 10.14 sec in the 100m and 20.40 sec in the 200m, and is a high priority for both T&F Coach Quincy Watts and Lincoln Riley and Donte Williams. He will play both sports. He makes an appearance at the game as members of the women’s volleyball team hold a large poster with “We want Pleasant” on it. Rodrick will announce his commitment on February 1st.
Returning to his old stomping grounds is former player 6-11 big man Nick Rakocevic. Rak is No. 2 on the career rebounding list for SC with 916 rebs, behind only Ron Riley’s 1067 (Riley got his in 3 seasons, since frosh were ineligible for varsity in 1970-72). Nick went undrafted in 2020, but played 2 seasons in China for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls and last played for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association. There are hugs all around for Nick, as he makes the rounds thru Galen.
An unexpected sighting coming up the aisle to press row is “The Voice” Pete Arbogast. Pete was later one of Malski’s half-time contestants and, very straight-faced, Malski asked him “and what’s your name?” He replied “Peter.” Malski says “alright Peter, let’s see if you can make a shot for a shirt.” Peter had good form on the shot and it bounced around every part of the rim, before dropping in to great applause. He was later put up on the big screen and introduced to the crowd, some of whom may have needed a “How do you do!” to recognize the radio voice of USC Trojans football. Pete did well in following a student who swished a half-court shot, winning a trip to Vegas and tickets to the Pac-12 tournament.
SC’s starting lineup was Boogie, Drew, Tre, Kobe and Josh, with Reese settling into his 6th man role, which he has performed well.
In the first half Branden Carlson scored half of the Utes 34 pts, exceeding his season ppg average. However, behind 11 pts (5-5 FGs, 1-1 3FG) from Tre, 10 pts each from Boogie (2 threes) and Drew (2 threes), the Trojans went into the locker room up by 5 (39-34). Apart from not guarding Carlson very well, the Trojans played an efficient half on both sides of the ball. In the second half, they would figure out how to guard the Utes big man.
The second half started off with Carlson scoring the first 4 pts on 2 FTs and a dunk. SC’s halftime adjustments -doubling down when Carlson got the ball and switching on screens to take away the pick and roll or pick and pop game- worked well. He was held scoreless over the final 18:38, finishing with a game high 21, but a non-factor when he was needed most.
SC never gave up the lead in the second half. The Utes got within a point at 48-47, but SC separated from that point, finishing with a 24-8 run for a final score of 71-55. The Trojans won their 9th straight home game and moved into third place in the conference behind 7-0 ucla and 6-1 ASU. Utah falls to fourth at 5-3, followed by a tie for fifth between Oregon and Arizona at 4-3.
SC shot 47.5% FGs, 43.8 % 3FGs (making 7 of 16 attempts), 75% FTs. The SC defense held Utah 17 pts below their season average as they shot only 34.4% FGs and 32.0% 3FGs (making 8 of 25 atts). Three-pt specialist Gabe Madsen had an ugly stat line (2-14 FGs, 2-10 3FGs, 6 pts). Worster was the only other Ute, besides Carlson in double figures with 12, but the No. 5 assist man in the Pac, had only a single assist in this game.
The most impressive stat in this game was the Trojans out-rebounded the Utes 41-29! Whatever the coaches have done to achieve that result, they need to do again. Josh Morgan led the Trojans with 10 rebounds, the most he has had since he had 10 against BYU in November. Three Trojans grabbed 6 rebounds apiece (Drew, Kobe and Reese).
Boogie led SC with 17 pts (7-13 FGs, 3-6 3FGs), Tre had 13 pts (6-11 FGs, 1-2 3FGs), Drew 11 pts (4-9 FGs, 2-2 3FGs, 1-2 FTs), Reese 11 pts (4-10 FGs, 1-4 3FGs, 2-2 FTS), Kobe 9 pts, Josh 8 pts and Kijani 2 pts to complete the scoring. Malik (7min) had 2 rebs and 1 asst, Vince (6 min) no shot attempts, 1 reb, 1 asst, Oziyah (2 min) 0-1 3FG, 1 assist, Harry (1 min). Iaroslav did not play.
This team has grown so much from the earlier part of the season and their confidence has grown with it. This may have been their most complete performance of the season. They executed on offense, spread the ball around, shot well and avoided any scoring droughts. They took care of the ball with only 9 TOs for the second game in a row. They played great team defense holding a good offense in check and controlled the boards, giving up only 29 rebounds, while grabbing 41 (+12 helped bring SC’s reb margin down from -1.0 to -0.3 – a step in the right direction).
The Trojans head to the desert next to take on the Wildcats in Tucson (Arizona will be very surly after losing to Oregon) and the surprising Sun Devils in Tempe (Bobby Hurley is always surly –haha).
Post-game Tre White commented on the crowd’s impact: “It was even crazier with the atmosphere, whenever we have the gym packed like this, these are the best games. The gym and the fans are just behind us, I feel like players could feel it on the court, definitely.” So get out to Galen, this team will continue to get better with our support!
Fight on! Beat the Wildcats!
USC (12-5, 4-2) is going for a 9th straight home win vs the Utah Runnin' Utes (12-6, 5-2), coming off a loss at UCLA, without best player Branden Carlson. UU has wins over Long Island U, CSU Bakersfield, Idaho St, GaTech, St Thomas, Arizona! WSU, Jacksonville St, UTSA, Cal, Stanford, OSU. Losses to Sam Houston St, Miss St, BYU, TCU, Oregon, ucla. SC swept UU last season, has won 4 of 5, but trails the series 24-26.
UU’s coach Craig Smith is in his 2nd year (3 yrs at Utah St. (72-24), made NCAA tournament – but cancelled by Covid). He replaced Enfield hater Larry Krystkowiak, who once told Andy “You are not in my league!” I hated that arrogant SOB! Utah has 1 national championship (1944), 4 Final Fours (last 1998), 29 NCAA appearances (10 under Rick Majerus – SC’s coach for 3 days in 2004!). Utah has been Pac-12 since 2010 with no conference or tourney titles. They had Naismith POY – Andrew Bogut in 2005 and Pac-12 POY Jakob Poeltl in 2016.
UU is led by Branden Carlson 15.7ppg (No. 6 in Pac – Boogie is No. 7 at 15.6 ppg), Gabe Madsen (12.2), Marco Anthony (11.0), Lazar Stefanovic (10.3) ppg. Statistically they almost mirror SC, except for 3FGs!
UU - 71.7 ppg, 45.4% FGs, 34.5% 3FGs, 70.6% FTs
SC – 71.2 ppg, 45.9% FGs, 31.2% 3FGs, 71.5% FTs
UU likes to shoot 3s: Carlson 39.6% 3FGs (No. 7 in Pac, 21 made), Madsen 38.1% (No. 11, 45 made, 6.6 att/g), Lazar 37.7%, (No. 12, 26 made). Boogie leads SC with 36.6% 3FGs (No. 18, 34 made).
The Utes are 2nd in Pac in rebounds at 40.4 rebs/g (+5.3), led by Carlson 7.4 rpg (No. 4 in Pac) and Anthony 6.9 rpg (No. 8 in Pac).
SC is 6th in Pac at 35.5 rebs/g (-1.0), led by Drew 6.5 rpg (No. 11), Josh 5.2 rpg (No. 18) and Tre 5.0 rpg (No. 24).
Rollie Worster leads UU with 87 assists (4.8 apg, No. 5 in Pac). Drew leads SC with 85 assists (5.0 apg, No. 4 in Pac), Kobe is No. 13 at 4.6 apg.
Josh is No. 1 in Pac with 47 blks (2.8 bpg), Carlson is No. 2 with 38 blks (2.24 bpg).
SC is ranked 62 in KenPom and 75 NET. UU is 55 in KenPom and 53 NET.
On a rainy day in LA, I’m not expecting a large crowd, but the Founder’s Room and arena are surprisingly full (announced attendance 4671).
In the FR, I spot USC Hall of Fame sportswriter/columnist/author Steve Bisheff and former player and ‘Bleav in USC Basketball’ podcaster Chris Penrose (2004-07).
Chris Capko is the guest speaker and his “USC Hoops is Life” sweatshirt is getting kudos. He recaps the past several games and says “it’s no secret but we haven’t shot the ball well all year. What we have done well is defend.” He notes our poor outside shooting (31.2% 3FGs) has cost us games and promises we will break out soon and the shots will fall. They still have confidence in Oziyah and will continue to try to get him minutes. Capko keeps hoping Oziyah hits his first shot and then that will lead to another.
FT shooting, last season’s issue, is no longer being asked about. The team is shooting well at the line (71.5%) and has really stepped it up in conference play (Kobe is over 92% in Pac games, 85% overall). The new elephant in the room is rebounding. Someone comments that Utah is +5.3 in rebs vs. opponents and we are -1.0. Capko says they continue to focus on getting better at crashing the boards, work hard on it in practice and are hopeful that Vince’s size will help. He can’t remember having a team that got outrebounded on the season.
Capko was asked if we have envisioned using Josh and Vince together. He reminds everyone that Vince is still a freshman catching up after missing all of summer camp, fall camp, 2 scrimmages and 16 games. They are trying to keep it simple for him and not have him learning extra stuff. He is going to know more over time and eventually they can play 2 bigs at once.
Branden Carlson missed the game against ucla, but will be back to face us (of course). Coach says he is having a POY type season.
The arena is filling up nicely on the lower and upper levels, DJ Malski is giving his Basketball Cheering 101 talk to the students, some new this semester. The Band, Dance Force, Song Girls and Spirit Squad are well represented. The football coaches and recruiting staff are holding an Elite Prospect Day over at the Coli, with campus tours and they might pass thru the arena – you never know. One elite recruit on his official visit right now – is the nation’s top uncommitted CB and track superstar- Rodrick Pleasant from Gardena Serra. He is arguably the fastest player in the 2023 class with a PR of 10.14 sec in the 100m and 20.40 sec in the 200m, and is a high priority for both T&F Coach Quincy Watts and Lincoln Riley and Donte Williams. He will play both sports. He makes an appearance at the game as members of the women’s volleyball team hold a large poster with “We want Pleasant” on it. Rodrick will announce his commitment on February 1st.
Returning to his old stomping grounds is former player 6-11 big man Nick Rakocevic. Rak is No. 2 on the career rebounding list for SC with 916 rebs, behind only Ron Riley’s 1067 (Riley got his in 3 seasons, since frosh were ineligible for varsity in 1970-72). Nick went undrafted in 2020, but played 2 seasons in China for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls and last played for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association. There are hugs all around for Nick, as he makes the rounds thru Galen.
An unexpected sighting coming up the aisle to press row is “The Voice” Pete Arbogast. Pete was later one of Malski’s half-time contestants and, very straight-faced, Malski asked him “and what’s your name?” He replied “Peter.” Malski says “alright Peter, let’s see if you can make a shot for a shirt.” Peter had good form on the shot and it bounced around every part of the rim, before dropping in to great applause. He was later put up on the big screen and introduced to the crowd, some of whom may have needed a “How do you do!” to recognize the radio voice of USC Trojans football. Pete did well in following a student who swished a half-court shot, winning a trip to Vegas and tickets to the Pac-12 tournament.
SC’s starting lineup was Boogie, Drew, Tre, Kobe and Josh, with Reese settling into his 6th man role, which he has performed well.
In the first half Branden Carlson scored half of the Utes 34 pts, exceeding his season ppg average. However, behind 11 pts (5-5 FGs, 1-1 3FG) from Tre, 10 pts each from Boogie (2 threes) and Drew (2 threes), the Trojans went into the locker room up by 5 (39-34). Apart from not guarding Carlson very well, the Trojans played an efficient half on both sides of the ball. In the second half, they would figure out how to guard the Utes big man.
The second half started off with Carlson scoring the first 4 pts on 2 FTs and a dunk. SC’s halftime adjustments -doubling down when Carlson got the ball and switching on screens to take away the pick and roll or pick and pop game- worked well. He was held scoreless over the final 18:38, finishing with a game high 21, but a non-factor when he was needed most.
SC never gave up the lead in the second half. The Utes got within a point at 48-47, but SC separated from that point, finishing with a 24-8 run for a final score of 71-55. The Trojans won their 9th straight home game and moved into third place in the conference behind 7-0 ucla and 6-1 ASU. Utah falls to fourth at 5-3, followed by a tie for fifth between Oregon and Arizona at 4-3.
SC shot 47.5% FGs, 43.8 % 3FGs (making 7 of 16 attempts), 75% FTs. The SC defense held Utah 17 pts below their season average as they shot only 34.4% FGs and 32.0% 3FGs (making 8 of 25 atts). Three-pt specialist Gabe Madsen had an ugly stat line (2-14 FGs, 2-10 3FGs, 6 pts). Worster was the only other Ute, besides Carlson in double figures with 12, but the No. 5 assist man in the Pac, had only a single assist in this game.
The most impressive stat in this game was the Trojans out-rebounded the Utes 41-29! Whatever the coaches have done to achieve that result, they need to do again. Josh Morgan led the Trojans with 10 rebounds, the most he has had since he had 10 against BYU in November. Three Trojans grabbed 6 rebounds apiece (Drew, Kobe and Reese).
Boogie led SC with 17 pts (7-13 FGs, 3-6 3FGs), Tre had 13 pts (6-11 FGs, 1-2 3FGs), Drew 11 pts (4-9 FGs, 2-2 3FGs, 1-2 FTs), Reese 11 pts (4-10 FGs, 1-4 3FGs, 2-2 FTS), Kobe 9 pts, Josh 8 pts and Kijani 2 pts to complete the scoring. Malik (7min) had 2 rebs and 1 asst, Vince (6 min) no shot attempts, 1 reb, 1 asst, Oziyah (2 min) 0-1 3FG, 1 assist, Harry (1 min). Iaroslav did not play.
This team has grown so much from the earlier part of the season and their confidence has grown with it. This may have been their most complete performance of the season. They executed on offense, spread the ball around, shot well and avoided any scoring droughts. They took care of the ball with only 9 TOs for the second game in a row. They played great team defense holding a good offense in check and controlled the boards, giving up only 29 rebounds, while grabbing 41 (+12 helped bring SC’s reb margin down from -1.0 to -0.3 – a step in the right direction).
The Trojans head to the desert next to take on the Wildcats in Tucson (Arizona will be very surly after losing to Oregon) and the surprising Sun Devils in Tempe (Bobby Hurley is always surly –haha).
Post-game Tre White commented on the crowd’s impact: “It was even crazier with the atmosphere, whenever we have the gym packed like this, these are the best games. The gym and the fans are just behind us, I feel like players could feel it on the court, definitely.” So get out to Galen, this team will continue to get better with our support!
Fight on! Beat the Wildcats!
