My notes on the Trojans 78-56 win over ASU
On my way to the Galen Center Founder's entrance for the ASU game, I crossed paths with Drew Peterson and said to him "new career high tonight Drew!" he smiled. Once inside the Founder's Club we figured the next speaker would be Coach Enfield, since we had gone over a month without a home game with fans. Instead it was Coach Eric Mobley for the second time. Mobley started with "We are 16-2! He repeated that when he didn't get the boisterous crowd response he was expecting. He said this was SC's best 18 game record since the 1970-71 team. Coach said that Ethan Anderson would start this game, as Max had started the game before. He mentioned that Josh Morgan had a slight knee issue and would be out for the game. Boubacar Coulibaly was expected to play in relief of Chevez in the role Josh had been filling. Mobley said ASU was a 3-pt shooting team and that we had to try to run them off the three-point line. When we had the ball it was important to limit our turnovers and knock down our free throws! (big applause).One Founder thanked him for allowing his sons Isaiah and Evan to attend SC and this received an ovation. I asked Coach Mobley if they were looking to sign a true PG this cycle, as they already had 2 bigs and 2 swing players committed. He, by rule could not discuss any names, but stated that yes they were working on it. As everyone looked for a hint that Coach Lincoln Riley might show up with a new QB commit that everyone has been waiting for to announce, Mike Bohn grabbed some food and sat down at one of the big donors' tables. He did not appear to be excited or animated, so that suggested that nothing was happening on the Caleb Williams front, despite the teasing on twitter from Gavin Morris. It also turned out that CLR had taken the private jet to Folsom to do a little 2023 recruiting of 4-star TE Walker Lyon and his 4-star WR teammate Rico Flores.
As usual, Jacque Hill (PG from 1979-83) was mingling at the bar, joined by some older basketball alums (later I would see them seated courtside in the end line seats next to the SC bench). I spied Brandon Sosna down at the other end of the court close to the student section and I also saw Tim Tessalone at the press tables and thought 'didn't he just retire', and then remembered something about him serving as a consultant. So once again, I was on Caleb Williams alert, although that hope would prove fruitless.
ASU was without coach Bobby Hurley and starting guard Jay Heath, who had been suspended for this game, due to a confrontation with Pac-12 officials at the end of their close 76-73 loss to Stanford. After Jalen Graham had tied the score at 73 - 73 with 8 seconds remaining, the game appeared headed to OT, but Graham was called for a foul on a Brandon Angel 3-pt attempt with 1 second left in the game. Angel knocked down all 3 FTs and the Sun Devils were denied. Hurley and several ASU players were very upset with the officials for that call and after the buzzer confronted the refs and Heath made contact with one official. Hurley walked off the court with his players having to be restrained by the assistants from going after the refs. This resulted in the suspensions.
ASU was also without their leading rebounder Kimani Lawrence, who was out sick with a non-covid related illness. This would be a big factor in the game as the Trojans outrebounded ASU 49-24.
After the big road sweep of the mountain schools, and this being the team's first appearance back at Galen with fans in attendance, there was a sense that the team would be energized and ready to continue their momentum. Howver, the start was not what they had hoped for. SC played perhaps their worst opening 13 minutes of any game this season, scoring only 8 points with 8 turnovers. ASU was nailing their shots especially DJ Horne and Marreon Jackson (who would end with game high 21 pts). Drew Peterson missed both FTs and SC found themselves trailing 20-8, it stayed this way until the 6:40 mark when Isaiah Mobley dunked, hanging a little on the rim and showing rare emotion, that seemed to fire up the Trojans.
Four consecutive 3-pt shots by the Trojans ( two each by Mobley and Reese Dixon-Waters) tied the score at 22 and SC never looked back. They took their first lead at the 3:36 mark 24-22 on a bucket by Boogie Ellis from just inside the arc. Drew would knock down his next 2 FTs and the Trojans' comeback was punctuated by a 3-pointer by Kobe Johnson with 7 seconds remaining. SC took a 31-24 lead into halftime.
The second half was a different story for the Trojans, as SC outscored the Sun Devils 47-32, to get their 17th win 78-56. With the game in hand, many of the frosh would see their most minutes played of the season.
The Trojans were again led by Drew Peterson who scored 16 pts on 6-8 FGs, 2-3 3FGs, 2-4 FTs. He tied Chevez with a game high 8 rebounds and added 2 assists and a steal.
Chevez had a slow start in the first half and had his shot blocked or roll off the rim several times. He ended the half with 3 pts, the old-fashioned way, hitting his and-1 FT. In the second half he made all of his shot attempts, netting 9 points to finish with 12 points (5-8 FGs, 2-3 FTs), 8 boards and 2 assists.
Isaiah Mobley and Max also finished with 12 pts. Mobley was 4-9 FGs, 2-4 3FGs, 2-2 FTs with 7 rebs, 2 assists and a steal. He needs to shoot more 3's, he is our leading shooter from distance with 31 made threes (42% 3FGs). Drew has a team high 44% success rate on his 24 made 3's. Max was 5-9 FGs, 2-3 3FGs with 6 rebs and a couple of bad turnovers. Still, Max shows himself to be a consistent contributor on this team. He has definitely improved from last year.
Isaiah White looked a lot like last year's version, scoring 6 pts on a basket and 4-4 FTs in 14 minutes of action. His basket was a drive thru the lane, ending with a thunderous dunk. He was always around the ball and defended hard. He had 2 rebs, 1 assist, 1 steal.
Starting guards Boogie Ellis and Ethan Anderson did not have good games, combining for just 2 pts. Boogie had an especially rough time shooting 1-9 FGs, 0-4 3FGs in 20 minutes for 2 pts. Ethan was 0-2 FGs in 18 minutes. After showing improvement earlier in the year, Ethan has regressed.
Andy subbed in Kobe Johnson early, as he has shown himself to be a capable ball handler, distributor and defender. Kobe played a career high 19 minutes and hit one of his 2 shots attempts (the 3-ptr to end the first half) to go along with 3 rebounds, a team high 5 assists, 1 blk, 1 steal and only 1 TO. A good effort by the freshman who should continue to get minutes going forward, along with RS freshman Reese Dixon Waters.
Reese scored 8 pts in 18 minutes on 2-5 FGs, 2-3 3FGs, 2-2 FTs. He continues to lead the team with a 86.7% FT average. From distance, he is second to Drew in 3FG% at 43.5%. He is a natural scorer and gaining confidence each game. Now that he has bought in on defense, he will continue to be a solid contributor to the team, going forward.
Boubacar did not receive the type of minutes usually given to Josh Morgan, but after not playing at all for most of the season (2 games played for a total of 11 minutes) he played 8 minutes in this game and got 3 pts on a fastbreak dunk and a FT. He also had a big block, 3 rebs and 1 assist.
Enfield cleared the bench, so Malik Thomas had a FT and a steal in 3 minutes. Harrison Hornery missed a 3-ptr and had 1 steal in 4 minutes, and walkons Reggie Parris, Zach Booker and Amar Ross entered the game for the first time this season with the team and crowd-favorite Amar Ross nailing a 3-ptr. The crowd broke out into an "M-V-P! M-V-P!" chant for the diminutive Ross, generously listed at 5'8" tall, but appearing to be more like 5'5". After the game Enfield would remark that Ross was now shooting 100% on 3's over 2 seasons, with his last made 3-pt shot occurring in the NCAA tournament. In a zinger, Enfield said that Amar had outscored Boogie Ellis this game - ouch.
As a team, USC shot well in this game against ASU going 45.8% FGs, 45.5% 3FGs, 73.7% FTs and continued to play well defensively holding the Sun Devils to 34.4% FGs, 26.7% 3FGs and sending ASU to the FT line only 5 times. SC is now 15-0 when holding opponents to less than 40% FGs and 2-2 when not doing so. The two losses were both covid affected as the Stanford 75-69 loss at Maples, following a near 3-wk shutdown of activities, and the 79-69 loss at Galen to a hot Oregon Ducks squad, both were played in the absence of fans.
SC gets a chance to redeem itself next game, this Thursday as they host Stanford 11-6 (4-3). Stanford is led by McDonald's AA freshman Harrison Ingram (11.5 ppg), Sr Jaiden Delaire (11.1 ppg) and Jr Spencer Jones (10.0 ppg). Five of Stanford's 6 losses have been on the road, the Trojans hope to make it 6 of 7 losses.
Fight on SC! Beat the Farm!
