My notes on the SC vs. FGCU game
This was Andy Enfield's Homecoming to Ft. Myers, FL where 'Dunk City' began and Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) became known to the rest of the country after their #15 seeded Eagles defeated both #2 Georgetown and #7 SDSU to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Dunk City was fun to watch and many felt that Andy Enfield would take this brand of basketball to his new job as the USC head coach. That didn't quite happen as Enfield came into the dumpster fire left him by Kevin O'Neill and in his first two seasons won only 5 conference games combined. Since then he has won 20 or more games in all but one season (2018-19) and SC's rise culminated in last season's Elite Eight run, to eclipse what he had accomplished at FGCU.Now on to the game:
A full-house of white-clad fans awaited the Trojans at the Alico Arena, who were celebrating a reunion of the Dunk City team, and smelling the opportunity to create another upset befitting of their Sweet Sixteen team. However, SC did not cooperate with their plans and instead produced a methodical, but exciting, 76-61 victory.
The Trojans were very solid in shooting from the field (49.2% FG) and from distance (41% 3FGs) after starting 0-7, they regrouped to hit 7 of their last 10 3's. However, they reverted to last year's team at the FT line, hitting only 7-15.Chevez was the biggest culprit there missing all 3 of his attempts (after being 5-6 to start the season), with Boogie missing on 2 of 5. Poor FT shooting has plagued the team and this was starting to improve in the first 2 games where they were 11-13 (85%) vs.CSUN and 18-27 (67%) vs. Temple. The Trojans were better than the Eagles from the field (36.7% FG, 26.7% 3FGs), but were outshot at the FT line (9-13).
What used to be a Dunk City FGCU team, was instead a team that hoisted up 30 3-pt attempts, the only Dunk City team that showed up in this game were the SC Trojans. Does the SC now stand for Slam City? haha. Chevez by himself had 4 slams, Boogie had one, Max had one, there may have been more, but I can't recall them.
The defense for SC, a hallmark of an Enfield team, continued to be stingy, especially when playing man-to-man. They were able to use their length to get good matchups with the Eagles players, except for their big man 6 ft 11, 260 lbs center Kevin Samuel, a starter for two seasons at TCU and one of a handful of transfers from larger programs. Samuel was 4-7 FGs, 8 pts, 8 rebs, and 4 blocks. He was a load to get around and to stop when he had a head of steam. The only Eagle in double figures was Cyrus Largie who took 27% (16) of the team's shots and scored 20 pts.
The Trojans were very good with the ball in this game, turning the ball over only 6 times, this was the lowest game total for USC that I can recall going back years. The Trojans were able to move in space much more freely than in the Temple game, where Temple played smothering defense and their always seemed to be a crowd around the man with the ball, FGCU was typically in a 2-3 zone that sat back and did not attack the way the Owls did. So SC was able to get into a comfort zone and the game had better flow and more breakaways for easy buckets.
SC had a decided advantage in points in the paint with 44 to 26 for the Eagles. Enfield shrunk the player rotation in this game to ensure a positive outcome, playing his starters from 24 to 33 minutes each and thus FGCU had more bench points 20-13. SC had more fastbreak points 22-14, including 3 possessions in a row in one stretch resulting in alley oop dunks.
The Trojans rolled out a starting lineup of Isaiah, Boogie, Drew and Chevez with Max Agbonkpolo joining the starters instead of Isaiah White. White usually performs pretty well off the bench, but not in this game, he played only 14 minutes, scoring just 1 pt and grabbing 4 rebs, he had 3 of the Trojans' 13 fouls.
Max, I thought played one of his best games, sans 3-pt FG shooting where he was 0-4 (for the season he is 1-8) and obviously needs to improve this. He played a season-high 25 minutes and scored 10 pts, and collected 5 rebs, 4 steals and a block. He is very athletic and used this to his advantage. The prettiest play I thought was where he stripped the ball and led a fast break down the floor dished off and received the pass back in stride for the dunk. This was textbook and SC displayed their fastbreaking skill several more times after that. This aspect of their game has improved over the struggles last season with running proper fastbreaks.
Before I go further, I just have to give a shout out to Chevez Goodwin, the star of the game and the top scorer in these 2 road games (19 against Temple and 20 against FGCU). If you had 3 guesses to name the player who would be the leading scorer on this road trip, how many of your guesses would have had Chevez in them? I won't lie, I would have thought either Boogie, Mobley or Drew would be that guy. If Chevez can continue this high efficiency post offense (10-15 this game, 8-10 vs Temple, 3-6 vs CSUN for a total FG% of 68%), that bodes well for our prospects for the rest of the season. Josh Morgan has proven to be a good complement for Chevez for his defensive presence and inside scoring (2-3 this game, 3-4 against Temple, 2-3 vs CSUN for a total 70% FGs). He wasn't needed as much this game, but Morgan did score 4 pts in 11 minutes.
Mobley was not really able to operate much in the low post as he faced constant double teams inside and so stayed with his mid-range and later his deep game, sinking back to back 3's down the stretch in the second half. He was a factor, however, with a team high 6 assists (tied with Boogie) and a game high of 9 rebounds. He didn't record a block or a steal, but he also didn't have any turnovers or fouls, that is a major accomplishment for him. We need him to avoid foul trouble and stay on the court.
Boogie was second in scoring with 18 pts and in 3 games leads the team with a 16.6 ppg average, Chevez is second at 15.7 ppg (we will take that!), and Mobley is at 13.3 ppg. Boogie grabbed 8 boards, had 6 assists and a steal, but did turn the ball over 3 times. He is a good player and currently is the go to guy when you need a big shot, much like his predecessor Tahj Eaddy. He is a good fit with our team and will only get better.
Drew Peterson continued to be a reluctant shooter from deep (0-1 in this game, 0-3 on the season - yes that's right, 3 games and still hasn't hit a 3) and had only 4 pts in the game on 2-5 shots, but was an all-around asset to the team with his hustle, 7 rebounds and a blocked shot, and his playmaking - 5 assists. He was continually driving, attracting defenders and then dishing to an open man. His shot will come and this team in general has a lot of upside as things start coming together for some of the players like Drew. If he and Max start hitting 3's the offense will take off.
Ethan Anderson played 22 minutes and scored 5 points, including 1-2 on 3-pt attempts. He seems to hit 3's when we need them but hasn't been forcing things, He had 2 assists with no turnovers. Ethan has only 1 turnover on the season!
The frosh Reese, Malik, Kobe and Harrison had 2 or fewer minutes at the end of the game with Waters getting an assist and a steal, Malik scoring a basket, Kobe hitting 1-2 FTs and Harrison missing his only shot. The basket by Malik, CA Gatorade Player of the Year in 2020-21, were his first 2 points as a Trojan. Now all scholarship players on the roster have scored this season. There should be many more opportunities for these younger players to get some playing time and some stats, starting with the next game against the Dixie State Trailblazers.
How many of you guessed that Dixie State was in Alabama? or at least somewhere in the deep South? My hand is raised. Upon googling them, I was very surprised to see that they hail from St. George, Utah. I guess it's like the Utah Jazz - huh? Doesn't really fit your expectation and calls for a name change doesn't it?
Anyway, those are my notes from the game. Hope to see some of you out supporting the team Monday night at Galen, where the Trojans and Trailblazers tip off at 8 pm. The game will be televised by Pac-12 networks as well.
Fight on! Beat the Trailblazers!
