“SCoop” is a column by Nolan Ezzet about USC’s sports teams.
Going into February, the Trojans seemed like they were ready to battle. They won three of their last four, with the only loss being against No. 8 Arizona. USC kicked off the month of February with a good win over Washington State, but the Trojans performed progressively worse over the next two weeks, jeopardizing their tournament chances. The Trojans need to improve their passing and 3-point shooting if they want to secure a spot in March.
Head coach Andy Enfield loves running four guards, but such a small lineup simply can’t compete if its passing and 3-point shooting is subpar. But when the Trojans have addressed these issues, they’ve amassed tremendous success.
Take USC’s 80-70 home win against Washington State, for example. USC shot 9-of-19 (47.4%) from beyond the arc and totaled 14 team assists. If a few of those deep shots didn’t hit, the result would have been very different.
Looking at the 80-74 home victory against Washington, USC nearly lost to a mediocre team primarily because of its poor 3-point shooting. The Trojans shot only 4-of-22 (18.2%) from deep, an unacceptable number for such a small team. Fortunately, USC displayed excellent passing and racked up 23 team assists. But against a tournament team, that won’t be enough to bail the Trojans out.
Unfortunately, it only gets worse from here.
What happens when you combine the horrific shooting numbers seen in the game against Washington with terrible ball movement? An 18-point blowout to an Oregon team that is solid but nothing special. USC shot 4-of-16 (25%) from 3-point range and recorded a grand total of nine team assists.
Fifth-year guard Drew Peterson has had games with double-digit assists, so there’s no exception for the whole team to be stuck in dingle-digits Oregon doubled USC’s assist numbers, and it showed on the scoreboard. The Ducks pulled out a 78-60 home victory, but the game was over by halftime when Oregon led 42-27.
USC then traveled an hour north to Corvallis to face the then 9-16 Oregon State Beavers. USC was even more inefficient than they were against Washington State; they made just one of 14 (7.1%) 3-point shots and tallied seven team assists. The Trojans were horrendous in almost every way possible. Even though the Beavers struggled to get their offense going, the Trojans found even fewer answers. They lost 61-58 and are now on a two-game losing streak and fighting to make an appearance in March.
When the Trojans are hot, they’re fun to watch – just look at their home victory against UCLA last month. But they are remarkably inconsistent, especially when it comes to ball movement and shooting beyond the arc. And in a tournament in which nearly half the spots (32 of 68) are given to conference winners, it is pivotal that USC begins to prove itself to be a consistent team that is no joke.
Currently, USC lies 64th in the NCAA’s NET rankings; the Trojans need to move up this list quickly if they want to be confident in their chances to make the tournament. USC has six remaining chances in the regular season to prove itself worthy of a spot, and even a single loss could extinguish any last glimmer of hope.
“SCoop” runs every other Tuesday.