Mobley’s sweep headlines strong USC showing in Pac-12 basketball awards

Those who followed USC men’s basketball consistently this season suspected they were watching perhaps the best player in program history in freshman forward Evan Mobley. Now, he has the accolades to prove it.

Mobley racked up a nearly unprecedented haul during the Pac-12′s awards announcements Tuesday morning, winning the conference’s Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards. Mobley is the first player in Pac-12 history to sweep the three awards and the only major conference player to do so besides Kentucky’s Anthony Davis in 2012.

As if that wasn’t enough, Oregon State’s Gary Payton was the only other player to win the Pac-12′s Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Mobley joins Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, UCLA’s Kevin Love and California’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim as the only players to win both Player and Freshman of the Year.

Mobley led the conference with ten double-doubles, 8.6 rebounds per game and 2.6 blocks per game. His 16.1 points per game and 58.2% field goal percentage ranked seventh and third in the conference, respectively.

The stats back up the eye test: Mobley was a menace around the rim on both ends while also showing the ability to step out on the perimeter as a playmaker, shooter and versatile defender. The projected top-three pick in the upcoming NBA Draft certainly has a claim as the best player ever to step foot on USC’s campus.

Between those honors and his obvious placements on the All-Pac-12 First Team as well as the conference’s All-Defensive and All-Freshman teams, Mobley’s name was spattered across the Pac-12 release. But he wasn’t the only Trojan to make an appearance.

Head coach Andy Enfield was named the conference’s Coach of the Year for the first time in his eight seasons with the Trojans. USC was picked to finish sixth in the conference during the preseason and returned just three players from the 2019-20 season; however, under Enfield’s leadership, the group of mostly transfers and freshmen finished second in the conference and had the most total wins in the Pac-12.

The Trojans went 21-6 for the team’s best winning percentage under Enfield, giving him his fifth 20-win season in the last six years. Enfield is the first USC coach to win the John R. Wooden Award since George Raveling in 1991-92 and only the fourth coach in program history to earn the honor.

“It’s a nice award to honor our entire coaching staff,” Enfield told Annenberg Media Tuesday. “A head coach is only as good as his assistant coaches and his players.”

Redshirt senior guard Tahj Eaddy rounded out USC’s awards claims by receiving All-Pac-12 Second Team honors. The Santa Clara transfer was a crucial playmaking and scoring presence for a Trojans squad lacking ballhandlers, ranking second on the team in points and assists. Similar to Mobley, Eaddy left an indelible mark on the program with his last-second 3-pointer to defeat UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in the final game of the regular season.

Mobley, Enfield and Eaddy’s awards are representative of the new standard this year’s team has set for the program. USC was one of the best teams in the conference this season, and it will have a chance to prove it when it begins its Pac-12 Tournament run on Thursday against the winner of the Utah-Washington first round matchup.

“We understand that this COVID year has been challenging and difficult for all of us, and we’re excited to go to Las Vegas, where everybody has a chance, and then the NCAA Tournament the following week,” Enfield said. “We are confident, we’re playing well and looking forward to going and competing.”