USC Knocks Off Huskies, Sweeps Weekend
USC got off to a fast start offensively Sunday night against Washington and never looked back, despite the Huskies' best effort to claw back after being down 19 late in the first half.
J.T Terrell finished the night with a game-high 18 points and Eric Wise added 12 as the Trojans (11-13, 6-5) knocked off the Huskies (13-11, 5-6) 71-60 at the Galen Center. The Trojans end a two-game losing streak to the Huskies and now have won three consecutive games for the first time since 2011.
This win didn’t come easy as the Trojans struggled to gain any offensive rhythm in the second half. The Trojans shot a poor 33 percent in the second half after making 53 percent of their shots in the first.
“We shot the ball really well in the first half," said interim head coach Bob Cantu. "(But) they came back and we struggled a little bit against the zone, but we were able to overcome it.
"At the end of the day we got the W. That’s all that matters. Different guys stepped up in different times.”
Jio Fontan was forced to sit after picking up three quick fouls (four overall) in the first four minutes of the second half. The Huskies took advantage of Fontan’s absence, cutting the lead down to five.
Witout Fontan on the floor, USC needed someone else to step up big. Freshman Chass Bryan filled in nicely, draining two huge threes with 6:28 remaining to extend the Trojans’ lead back to 10.
“Chass is a great player; there’s no drop off when Jio isn’t in the game” said USC guard JT Terrell. “He plays hard on both ends, knocks down open shots, finds the open man.”
Bryan finished the night with six points and two assists.
USC, notoriously known for slow starts, came out of the gates on fire. The Trojans lead by as many as 19 late in the first half before the Huskies went on a quiet 13-5 run to end it. USC was up 40-29 at the break.
In the second half, Washington chipped away at the lead, closing at one point to 63-58 after a big three pointer by Washington guard Scott Suggs, who ended the game with a team-high 16 points, all in the second half.
It was USC’s uncharacteristically near perfect free throw shooting that was the difference in this game. The Trojans were 14-for-15 at the line. Fontan missed USC’s only free throw with 36 seconds remaining.
Washington went a measly 4-for-14 at the line. Huskies’ center Aziz N’Diaye was 2-for-9.
The Trojans look to win their fourth in a row for the first time since Feb. 17-26, 2011.
USC heads up north to face the Stanford Cardinal Thursday, Feb. 14, then the California Bears on Sunday, Feb. 17.
