The game: Nowhere near the pulse pounder that the Oregon game was but close until mid second half with USC stretching a 3 point lead to winning by 13. OSU had 2 very good players in coaches son Tinkle , and Eubanks who accounted for half of their points, 60% of their rebs and both blocks. Both teams scored heavily in the paint. The refs sort of stayed out of this one, The defense came together and held OSU to its second lowest point total in a game this season. The Oregon sweep (4 games) in a season was last accomplished in 2008. Again, about 1/2 of a full arena.
The heroes. As Jonah Mathews was the shooting star vs. Oregon, he went for 0 points but Elijah Stewart had the hot hand going 9-10 with 5-5 in 3 pointers vs. 0-9 for everyone else on 3's wearing the home unis. Metu blocked 3 and stole 1 to go along with 14 points, 7 rebs, with 6-7 FTs. McLaughlin had 11 assists and has that lob pass above the rim down to perfection. The FT which nearly killed USC last game hit 81% this time, 9 points better than OSU.
The Missing Boatwright factor. First off the team used only 3 other players besides the starters. The bench got only 9 points , 7 of those by Usher who played a half game. Racocevic started at center, Metu slid to Power forward, and 3 guards started. In a way that helped Metu who sometimes slid from the outside in for those lob passes. The position change may also have helped Metu with making fouls (1). But the 3 point shot of Bennie was missed. This time Stewart to the rescue but the lack of Boatwright's 3 point shooting could hurt in the future.
Where USC is now The Trojans were ranked #44 RPI below AZ (16) and ASU (29 -due to pre-season wins). UCLA is #47, UW=50, Utah= 52. USC is considered a #11-12 seed. They need to win the upcoming Utah and UCLA games to cement their position. BTW yesterday in the top 25, 4 teams won, 9 teams lost. So I think like one announcer said that 40 teams could make the top 4, and likely 10 of those could win it all. That scares me a bit since inherent biases makes close determinations shift come March madness.
The heroes. As Jonah Mathews was the shooting star vs. Oregon, he went for 0 points but Elijah Stewart had the hot hand going 9-10 with 5-5 in 3 pointers vs. 0-9 for everyone else on 3's wearing the home unis. Metu blocked 3 and stole 1 to go along with 14 points, 7 rebs, with 6-7 FTs. McLaughlin had 11 assists and has that lob pass above the rim down to perfection. The FT which nearly killed USC last game hit 81% this time, 9 points better than OSU.
The Missing Boatwright factor. First off the team used only 3 other players besides the starters. The bench got only 9 points , 7 of those by Usher who played a half game. Racocevic started at center, Metu slid to Power forward, and 3 guards started. In a way that helped Metu who sometimes slid from the outside in for those lob passes. The position change may also have helped Metu with making fouls (1). But the 3 point shot of Bennie was missed. This time Stewart to the rescue but the lack of Boatwright's 3 point shooting could hurt in the future.
Where USC is now The Trojans were ranked #44 RPI below AZ (16) and ASU (29 -due to pre-season wins). UCLA is #47, UW=50, Utah= 52. USC is considered a #11-12 seed. They need to win the upcoming Utah and UCLA games to cement their position. BTW yesterday in the top 25, 4 teams won, 9 teams lost. So I think like one announcer said that 40 teams could make the top 4, and likely 10 of those could win it all. That scares me a bit since inherent biases makes close determinations shift come March madness.
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