In a nutshell, SC runs LA! Andy Enfield owns Mick Cronin! Trojans beat bruins for 5th straight time! Electric atmosphere, sell-out crowd, largest student section in Galen Center history, celebs in the building! Trojans Beat the bruins 67-64! FTFO SC!
Coming out of the parking structure I pass Amar Ross, and he is not close to his listed 5'8", I would guess he is more like 5'5". I said to him "I hope you get in tonight" and he said "Thanks." I knew the chances of this happening were pretty much non-existent, but wanted to let him know I recognized him. Walking up to the Galen Center, I see the student section line backing up from Fig to Flower, I am told later it wrapped all the way around back to Fig. Wow, I have never seen that before! Some students had set up chairs at 10 am and most were in line 3 hours before gametime. There was even a long line to get into the Founder's Club.
Coach Enfield was the speaker for this big game and he stunned the room when he reported that Isaiah Mobley would not play. The mask worked OK, but Mobley was suffering some concussion symptoms that went along with his broken nose from the Arizona game. Oh no, No Mobley!! Andy addressed the biggest crowd the Founder's Club has seen in several seasons. Enfield commented that there are sure a lot of people here, "many of you only come here once a season and I guess this game is that time!" - lots of laughter. He talked about having to scrape out a win against Pacific and the game that Harrison Hornery had with the 3 threes. He said one of the long-time refs said to him, "who IS that guy?" Andy went on to describe Harrison's background as being an Aussie who came to Mater Dei as a freshman to play basketball and who, due to covid, hasn't seen his parents in 2 years. He said, about the team, "we are his family."
It was so loud in the bar area that I couldn't hear everything coach said, rude! He did make a joke about the Pac-12 officials that drew laughter. My son asked "Coach Enfield you are 4-0 against Mick Cronin, what is the key tonight to keeping that streak going?" Andy said "well we are missing our best player, so we need all of the other players to step up and play their best tonight." Someone asked about the LA Times article that commented on his casual look vs.Cronin's tailored suits. Andy said he loved dressing up and had always worn a suit in previous seasons, but he had seen the NBA coaches go casual and called some of his contacts at Duke and Maryland and they said the ACC and B1G conference coaches were going casual, so he took a vote of his assistants and they voted to follow suit (pun intended).
Mike Bohn was in the Founder's Club with his wife and still accepting congrats on his Lincoln Riley hire. Anthony Munoz walked in, accompanied by his son Michael, who was an All-American OL at Tennessee. Big guys. We called out to him and gave Anthony a thumbs up greeting as he passed us and he said "Fight on!" Later, Mr. and Mrs. Matt Barkley would come into the Founder's and my son yelled "Matt" and gave him a High 5. Also in the room was the PA announcer Leland Vittert. Leaving the room to go into the arena, I see Brandon Sosna coming in and say to the diehard Cincinnati sports fan, "you must be in heaven right now, with Anthony Munoz here!" We said he was with a big smile and I gave him a little tap and told him "Go Rams!" He goes, "I know, everyone is a Rams fan around here."
I get into my seats in the arena and note the full student section, fronted by the Trojan Knights, who are body painted with B-E-A-T T-H-E B-R-U-I-N-S on their chests with Trojan jersey numbers on their backs. Nick Lachey passes us going up the stairs. I look behind me to the 2 rows reserved for NBA scouts and can't believe there are only like 3 of them present for this game, I thought there were a handful of NBA prospects in this game that they would want to glimpse. I see Bill Walton and his ESPN partner Dave Pasch already having a dialogue. Walton is a bruin but I think pretty impartial and probably harder on this bruins than the rest of "The Conference of Champions" players. Most times he is off-roading and not really talking about the game in progress. When I watch the game on replay I can see how he did.
I see Matt Barkley sitting next to Drake London and John Jackson III courtside, a few seats down from them on thier lefts is Anthony Munoz and to thier right is Al Cowlings (left OJ in the Bronco I guess) and a Sean White lookalike with snowboarding pants, beanie over his flowing red locks and a fake Olympic Gold medal. Leland introduces him later as Sean White, I don't know if he was just playing along or genuinely thought it was White. SwaggyP Nick Young is sitting courtside in front of us under the basket with his son Nick Jr, who is about 10 yrs old and sporting a similar hairdo as his father. Lastly, you I am sure would like to know that in the section across the aisle from the basketball band in the front is Caleb Williams (taking a break from signing NIL deals), with Korey Foreman, Domani Jackson and a few other football players. They would have a good time and at game's end, Caleb would end up in the middle of the band.
The rendition of the National Anthem by a USC sophomore was one of the best performances I have ever heard and I am thinking that it's probably far better than what we will have at SoFi for the Super Bowl.
Enfield sends out a starting lineup of Boogie, Chevez, Drew, Ethan and Isaiah White. I am wondering how long it will take for Harrison Hornery to get in. After White makes a layup but misses 2 jumpers (1 3-ptr), Harrison is subbed in at the 15:17 mark, his first shot would be minutes later with the shot clock down to 3 secs on an inbounds play where he would catch, turn and shoot in one fluid motion, for 3 pts. He provided a spark, but would miss his only other shot and end with 9 minutes in the game, with 1 reb and 1 block.
In a close first half, there would be 5 lead changes, the largest leads were 8 pts for SC, 4 pts for ucla. SC headed to the lockerroom up 33-31. At half-time new NFL HOF inductee Tony Boselli was introduced at mid-court to a standing ovation. Wow, 2 NFL HOFs in the house (Munoz the other) and part of 14 Trojans HOF'ers, the most players of any school!
My son struck up a conversation with a couple sitting behind us with ucla pass credentials around their necks. It was Max Montoya and his wife. He was an All Pac-10 lineman at UCLA under Terry Donahue and played 11 yrs for the Bengals (going to 2 Super Bowls) and 5 yrs for the Raiders (Kim Helton was his OL coach). He was a 4-time Pro Bowler and now lives in Kentucky and raises horses. With the Bengals he was roommates with Anthony Munoz. He was in town for the Super Bowl. We told him we would be there too, rooting for the Rams of course.
The atmosphere at Galen was the most exciting I have ever witnessed, DJ Malski had the crowd pumped up, even standing and dancing to YMCA and the Macarena.
The game was very physical and at times chippy. Both teams were fighting for rebounds and loose balls. The Pac-12 refs were their usual inconsistent selves calling 20 PFs on SC and 14 on ucla, most of which were the clock stopping fouls at the end of the game when the bruins were down and trying to get back into the game, down by as many as 8 in the last 41 secs. SC would almost blow it, but not at the line, where they were 11-12 (91%), but with missed shots, a missed dunk and technical by Max for hanging on the rim (it was a bad call) and heroics by the bruins to sink clutch shots. They got it down to 3 pts, and had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but Tyger Campbell missed the shot and the crowd went wild and the students stormed the court.
Drew Peterson was the unquestioned star of the game with an SC career high 27 pts, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks! He was money all night and handled the lead guard duties in crunch time. Boogie was a non-factor, scoreless and committing 5 TOs.
The other Trojans who factored in big were Reese with his career high 10 pts (3-5 FGs, 2-3 3FGs, 2-2 FTs), 2 assists, 1 reb, 1 steal - no TOs. Kid needs to play more, maybe start. Ethan played well in his 30 minutes, and had a few big plays, scoring 7 pts, 3 rebs, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and no TOs. He was good, but Reese has more upside going forward.
Chevez was good down low with 10 pts and 9 rebs and a remarkable 4-4 FTs.
Final score SC 67 ucla 64! That makes 5 straight SC wins over ucla and Mick Cronin, the most wins in a row since WWII! This is getting fun. This is a much needed quad 1 win for SC and they should climb in the polls and NET rankings and KenPom. They are now in second place (10-4) in the Pac-12 behind Arizona (12-2) and ahead of (9-4) ucla and Oregon. Overall SC is at 21-4. Next up are the Washington schools at Galen.
Fight on everyone! What a great day to be a Trojan!
Coming out of the parking structure I pass Amar Ross, and he is not close to his listed 5'8", I would guess he is more like 5'5". I said to him "I hope you get in tonight" and he said "Thanks." I knew the chances of this happening were pretty much non-existent, but wanted to let him know I recognized him. Walking up to the Galen Center, I see the student section line backing up from Fig to Flower, I am told later it wrapped all the way around back to Fig. Wow, I have never seen that before! Some students had set up chairs at 10 am and most were in line 3 hours before gametime. There was even a long line to get into the Founder's Club.
Coach Enfield was the speaker for this big game and he stunned the room when he reported that Isaiah Mobley would not play. The mask worked OK, but Mobley was suffering some concussion symptoms that went along with his broken nose from the Arizona game. Oh no, No Mobley!! Andy addressed the biggest crowd the Founder's Club has seen in several seasons. Enfield commented that there are sure a lot of people here, "many of you only come here once a season and I guess this game is that time!" - lots of laughter. He talked about having to scrape out a win against Pacific and the game that Harrison Hornery had with the 3 threes. He said one of the long-time refs said to him, "who IS that guy?" Andy went on to describe Harrison's background as being an Aussie who came to Mater Dei as a freshman to play basketball and who, due to covid, hasn't seen his parents in 2 years. He said, about the team, "we are his family."
It was so loud in the bar area that I couldn't hear everything coach said, rude! He did make a joke about the Pac-12 officials that drew laughter. My son asked "Coach Enfield you are 4-0 against Mick Cronin, what is the key tonight to keeping that streak going?" Andy said "well we are missing our best player, so we need all of the other players to step up and play their best tonight." Someone asked about the LA Times article that commented on his casual look vs.Cronin's tailored suits. Andy said he loved dressing up and had always worn a suit in previous seasons, but he had seen the NBA coaches go casual and called some of his contacts at Duke and Maryland and they said the ACC and B1G conference coaches were going casual, so he took a vote of his assistants and they voted to follow suit (pun intended).
Mike Bohn was in the Founder's Club with his wife and still accepting congrats on his Lincoln Riley hire. Anthony Munoz walked in, accompanied by his son Michael, who was an All-American OL at Tennessee. Big guys. We called out to him and gave Anthony a thumbs up greeting as he passed us and he said "Fight on!" Later, Mr. and Mrs. Matt Barkley would come into the Founder's and my son yelled "Matt" and gave him a High 5. Also in the room was the PA announcer Leland Vittert. Leaving the room to go into the arena, I see Brandon Sosna coming in and say to the diehard Cincinnati sports fan, "you must be in heaven right now, with Anthony Munoz here!" We said he was with a big smile and I gave him a little tap and told him "Go Rams!" He goes, "I know, everyone is a Rams fan around here."
I get into my seats in the arena and note the full student section, fronted by the Trojan Knights, who are body painted with B-E-A-T T-H-E B-R-U-I-N-S on their chests with Trojan jersey numbers on their backs. Nick Lachey passes us going up the stairs. I look behind me to the 2 rows reserved for NBA scouts and can't believe there are only like 3 of them present for this game, I thought there were a handful of NBA prospects in this game that they would want to glimpse. I see Bill Walton and his ESPN partner Dave Pasch already having a dialogue. Walton is a bruin but I think pretty impartial and probably harder on this bruins than the rest of "The Conference of Champions" players. Most times he is off-roading and not really talking about the game in progress. When I watch the game on replay I can see how he did.
I see Matt Barkley sitting next to Drake London and John Jackson III courtside, a few seats down from them on thier lefts is Anthony Munoz and to thier right is Al Cowlings (left OJ in the Bronco I guess) and a Sean White lookalike with snowboarding pants, beanie over his flowing red locks and a fake Olympic Gold medal. Leland introduces him later as Sean White, I don't know if he was just playing along or genuinely thought it was White. SwaggyP Nick Young is sitting courtside in front of us under the basket with his son Nick Jr, who is about 10 yrs old and sporting a similar hairdo as his father. Lastly, you I am sure would like to know that in the section across the aisle from the basketball band in the front is Caleb Williams (taking a break from signing NIL deals), with Korey Foreman, Domani Jackson and a few other football players. They would have a good time and at game's end, Caleb would end up in the middle of the band.
The rendition of the National Anthem by a USC sophomore was one of the best performances I have ever heard and I am thinking that it's probably far better than what we will have at SoFi for the Super Bowl.
Enfield sends out a starting lineup of Boogie, Chevez, Drew, Ethan and Isaiah White. I am wondering how long it will take for Harrison Hornery to get in. After White makes a layup but misses 2 jumpers (1 3-ptr), Harrison is subbed in at the 15:17 mark, his first shot would be minutes later with the shot clock down to 3 secs on an inbounds play where he would catch, turn and shoot in one fluid motion, for 3 pts. He provided a spark, but would miss his only other shot and end with 9 minutes in the game, with 1 reb and 1 block.
In a close first half, there would be 5 lead changes, the largest leads were 8 pts for SC, 4 pts for ucla. SC headed to the lockerroom up 33-31. At half-time new NFL HOF inductee Tony Boselli was introduced at mid-court to a standing ovation. Wow, 2 NFL HOFs in the house (Munoz the other) and part of 14 Trojans HOF'ers, the most players of any school!
My son struck up a conversation with a couple sitting behind us with ucla pass credentials around their necks. It was Max Montoya and his wife. He was an All Pac-10 lineman at UCLA under Terry Donahue and played 11 yrs for the Bengals (going to 2 Super Bowls) and 5 yrs for the Raiders (Kim Helton was his OL coach). He was a 4-time Pro Bowler and now lives in Kentucky and raises horses. With the Bengals he was roommates with Anthony Munoz. He was in town for the Super Bowl. We told him we would be there too, rooting for the Rams of course.
The atmosphere at Galen was the most exciting I have ever witnessed, DJ Malski had the crowd pumped up, even standing and dancing to YMCA and the Macarena.
The game was very physical and at times chippy. Both teams were fighting for rebounds and loose balls. The Pac-12 refs were their usual inconsistent selves calling 20 PFs on SC and 14 on ucla, most of which were the clock stopping fouls at the end of the game when the bruins were down and trying to get back into the game, down by as many as 8 in the last 41 secs. SC would almost blow it, but not at the line, where they were 11-12 (91%), but with missed shots, a missed dunk and technical by Max for hanging on the rim (it was a bad call) and heroics by the bruins to sink clutch shots. They got it down to 3 pts, and had a chance to tie at the buzzer, but Tyger Campbell missed the shot and the crowd went wild and the students stormed the court.
Drew Peterson was the unquestioned star of the game with an SC career high 27 pts, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks! He was money all night and handled the lead guard duties in crunch time. Boogie was a non-factor, scoreless and committing 5 TOs.
The other Trojans who factored in big were Reese with his career high 10 pts (3-5 FGs, 2-3 3FGs, 2-2 FTs), 2 assists, 1 reb, 1 steal - no TOs. Kid needs to play more, maybe start. Ethan played well in his 30 minutes, and had a few big plays, scoring 7 pts, 3 rebs, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and no TOs. He was good, but Reese has more upside going forward.
Chevez was good down low with 10 pts and 9 rebs and a remarkable 4-4 FTs.
Final score SC 67 ucla 64! That makes 5 straight SC wins over ucla and Mick Cronin, the most wins in a row since WWII! This is getting fun. This is a much needed quad 1 win for SC and they should climb in the polls and NET rankings and KenPom. They are now in second place (10-4) in the Pac-12 behind Arizona (12-2) and ahead of (9-4) ucla and Oregon. Overall SC is at 21-4. Next up are the Washington schools at Galen.
Fight on everyone! What a great day to be a Trojan!
