Washington Basketball dominates the USC Trojans. What are the takeaways from the Huskies’ bounce-back win at home?
Washington Basketball (11-4, 1-1) defeated Southern California (12-3, 1-1) 72-40 in Seattle Sunday night. The Huskies were ranked #71 in the NET rankings, while the Trojans were #50.
Southern Cal started the game cold, not scoring their first field goal until 14:54 remaining in the first half. The matchup was going to be a tough one for the Trojans going in, despite cruising to a 65-56 win in Pullman on Thursday. SC likes to pound the ball inside, which happened to be right into the teeth of the Washington 2-3 zone.
The Huskies held the Trojans to 20% shooting behind a defense that blocked 12 of those shots, including six by freshman Jaden McDaniels. USC freshman Onyeka Okongwu led the team with 10 points and eight rebounds on 4 for 12 shooting.
Freshman Isaiah Stewart led the Dawgs with an 18 point and 10 rebound night. The McDonald’s All-American outplayed the USC bigs, Okongwu (a fellow McDonald’s All-American) and senior Nick Rakocevic all night.
Sophomore transfer, point guard Quade Green added 14 points and five assists, while McDaniels contributed 11. Junior guard Nahziah Carter chipped in nine points. Redshirt freshman Nate Roberts came off the bench and more than doubled his scoring on the season, with seven points coming from three monster dunks.
Washington came into the game recovering from back-to-back losses including losing their conference opener against UCLA (#139 NET), 66-64, on Thursday, Jan. 2, in Seattle. With this win over USC, Washington avoided digging an 0-2 start in league play and is still in contention for the Pac-12 crown, with the following takeaways to keep in mind.