Bennie Boatwright was out with a wart on his foot. Sounds like nothing but I had one and it was painful with rubbing by the shoes and it affects play.
Once again USC held a huge lead-15 points at the half (41-26). They got there by being more athletic and aggressive versus Stanford's system of passing often, and touching near all 5 players before a shot. It seems like David Shaw was coaching this team as well as football. They stuck with it, disciplined and not particularly inventive. USC made them pay with the majority of their points in the paint (48by USC to 28 by Stanford) and by inducing turnovers (16 Stanford turnovers to 7 for USC). .
But one nagging thing was that USC fouls were coming quickly while Stanford was not (9FTs to USCs 4 in 1H). Since USC was more aggressive on O that seemed strange, particularly at home. Sometimes I wonder if refs subconsciously see one team pounding on another and start thinking they need not give the lead team any more advantage. And in the 2H Stanford gets 10 FTs and USC only the 4 -McLaughlin FTs at the end of the game. Getting points at the FT line with the clock stopped is an easy way to get back.
Sure enough the second half US had its normal dry spell and Stanford like the tortoise was getting back in the race. Still leading by 12 at 57-45 (11:11 to go) it became 66-64 with 0:32 to go. McLaughlin potted 1 FT and missed the second. 3 ahead and McLaughlin made a great anticipatory steal of a pass, was fouled and missed both FTs. Now still up by 3 Trojan Killer Davis launched a three to tie….but from where I sat it looked off and it was hitting the iron in back of the net and going out of bounds. USC inbounded it on a half court pass and Stewart dunked it while the faithful let out a synchronized breath of relief.
Star of the game from the bench was Jonah Matthews and his 18 points on 7-12 shots and 4-6 on threes. He kept Stanford D a little honest. USC is now technically tied for first with Arizona (7-2 vs. 6-1) but UA has 2 more games to play. The crowd was late arriving and filled about 40% of the arena. Come out Sunday vs. Cal and support this team.
Once again USC held a huge lead-15 points at the half (41-26). They got there by being more athletic and aggressive versus Stanford's system of passing often, and touching near all 5 players before a shot. It seems like David Shaw was coaching this team as well as football. They stuck with it, disciplined and not particularly inventive. USC made them pay with the majority of their points in the paint (48by USC to 28 by Stanford) and by inducing turnovers (16 Stanford turnovers to 7 for USC). .
But one nagging thing was that USC fouls were coming quickly while Stanford was not (9FTs to USCs 4 in 1H). Since USC was more aggressive on O that seemed strange, particularly at home. Sometimes I wonder if refs subconsciously see one team pounding on another and start thinking they need not give the lead team any more advantage. And in the 2H Stanford gets 10 FTs and USC only the 4 -McLaughlin FTs at the end of the game. Getting points at the FT line with the clock stopped is an easy way to get back.
Sure enough the second half US had its normal dry spell and Stanford like the tortoise was getting back in the race. Still leading by 12 at 57-45 (11:11 to go) it became 66-64 with 0:32 to go. McLaughlin potted 1 FT and missed the second. 3 ahead and McLaughlin made a great anticipatory steal of a pass, was fouled and missed both FTs. Now still up by 3 Trojan Killer Davis launched a three to tie….but from where I sat it looked off and it was hitting the iron in back of the net and going out of bounds. USC inbounded it on a half court pass and Stewart dunked it while the faithful let out a synchronized breath of relief.
Star of the game from the bench was Jonah Matthews and his 18 points on 7-12 shots and 4-6 on threes. He kept Stanford D a little honest. USC is now technically tied for first with Arizona (7-2 vs. 6-1) but UA has 2 more games to play. The crowd was late arriving and filled about 40% of the arena. Come out Sunday vs. Cal and support this team.
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