USC Basketball: 2019-20 takeaways from road win over UCLA
By Andy Patton
Hustle and free throws could be the team’s downfall in March
USC shot 57.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from downtown against the Bruins on Saturday, but a pathetic 61.9 percent (13-21) from the free throw line nearly caused their downfall, and is an issue they’ll need to address sooner rather than later.
USC came into the game shooting just 65.8 percent from the charity stripe, which placed them 299th in the country. That number went down even further, almost ensuring they are among the 50 worst free throw shooting teams in the NCAA.
Rakocevic is the biggest culprit, shooting just 60 percent on the year, but Isaiah Mobley (50%) and Elijah Weaver (57.6%) aren’t helping either.
In addition to free throw shooting woes, USC just got flat-out outhustled for large chunks of this game. They outrebounded UCLA 28-19, but they allowed seven offensive rebounds to the Bruins and were often beaten to loose balls.
Plus, UCLA’s full and half-court press wreaked havoc on USC’s ball-handlers, forcing them into frequent turnovers far away from the basket – which often leads to dumb fouls on the other end.
Nobody will mistake this as one of USC’s better games, but winning in the PAC-12 is never easy and beating UCLA at their home court always feels good – especially when you do it with your star center spending the majority of the game on the pine.
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USC will hope that free throw woes and turnover issues won’t plague them too much in March, but the added scoring from their reserves is a good sign of things to come for this Trojans team.