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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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LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 21: Marlon Taylor #14 of the LSU Tigers guards Daniel Utomi #4 (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Big night from Utomi

Redshirt senior Daniel Utomi, who transferred to USC from Akron, has been OK for the Trojans in his role as one of the first players off the bench but stepped up in a big way on Thursday night. In what can rightfully be described as Utomi’s breakout game with USC basketball. He went off for a USC career-high 22 points in 28 minutes.

Utomi is known as a nice scoring option but Thursday’s 22-point outing was his first double-digit scoring effort since his 10-points on January 23rd against Oregon. A big part of Utomi’s great night was the fact that he got his eighth start of the season due to two of the team’s starters starting the night on the bench due to a violation of team rules. The added six minutes per game for Utomi (28)–who usually plays around 22 minutes per night–potentially helped him get into a better groove than usual. He went 4-for-7 from the 3-point line and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line, ending the night with an absurd 93.5% true shooting percentage.

Obviously, big-time production like that will not be expected from the redshirt senior guard often but any added offense will greatly aid Enfield’s bunch as they try to stay among the top three teams in the Pac-12.

Enfield’s move to insert Utomi into the starting lineup is likely a one-game move due to the disciplinary actions to Jonah Mathews and Nick Rakocevic but Utomi’s hot-shooting should earn him more playing time. He is shooting 37.5% from the 3-point line on the year but needs to get more aggressive from deep.

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Utomi is averaging 9.2 attempts from 3-point range per 100 possessions after shooting just over 13.1 3-pointers per 100 possessions last season with Akron. If Utomi can bump up his usage rate while focusing on firing away from deep, the USC offense will be all the better for it, with a great chance to bounce back against a similarly-minded defense-first team in Arizona State.

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