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USC basketball: Takeaways from Trojans close loss to surging Arizona Wildcats

By Michael Walton

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 03: Head coach Andy Enfield of the USC Trojans yells from the bench during the game against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on February 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 03: Head coach Andy Enfield of the USC Trojans yells from the bench during the game against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on February 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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EUGENE, OREGON – JANUARY 23: Ethan Anderson #20 of the USC Trojans (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /

Slow start and mental mistakes hurt the Trojans again

This game—besides two starters checking in off the bench as early substitutions for USC—had a similar ebb and flow as USC’s last loss on Saturday to Colorado. In that game, USC went into the half with only 24 points up on the board and down by six. On Thursday the Trojans went into the half having only scored 33 points and down by 10. Seeing a pattern?

The USC offense has been off and on all season long, standing as the biggest obstacle between them and an earnest run at a Pac-12 regular-season title. The Trojans have the 107th ranked offense via KenPom.com and they had failed to score 80 points over their previous four games while going 2-2. USC was sloppy with the ball and while they didn’t commit an alarming amount of errors for the night, they ended up doubling the turnover total of Arizona, which is creating quite a tall task for yourself with who talented the Wildcats starting lineup is.

USC had five turnovers in the first half and while the points given up off of turnovers were bad enough, the way some of them were scored—like Josh Green‘s emphatic breakaway slam—was soul-crushing for the USC basketball comeback effort.

https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/status/1225638295977095172

Ultimately, there are two ways to look at Thursday’s five-point loss. You can view it as a spirited comeback effort down the stretch from the Trojans, or seeing as they lost, you could view it as an extremely squandered opportunity. Think of how Thursday’s contest would’ve been if they came out with enough energy and discipline to not fall into a 20-point hole in the first place. As the Trojans move on to play ASU, Enfield needs to stress the importance of coming out strong which will have a lot to do with our next takeaway…

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