USC men’s basketball soared past Cal 97-60 on Thursday at Galen Center. The 97-point performance is a season-high for the Trojans and brings them to 18-8.
The Trojans suffered losses to Oregon and Oregon State last week, but Peterson’s career-high 30-point performance helped them bounce back.
Peterson had a couple of stand-out passes in the first half as well. After his first steal, he went coast-to-coast and tricked the defender by changing direction several times. He then finished the possession with a beautiful no-look assist to sophomore guard Kobe Johnson, who layed it in. Another Peterson steal allowed him to travel the length of the court again, and he topped the possession off with a behind-the-back assist to freshman guard Oziyah Sellers.
Peterson led his Trojans squad to a 50-23 halftime lead that was characterized by excellent ball movement and prolific shooting. USC made seven of 12 3-point attempts in the first half. The game seemed over already.
“Really depended on the first half to get that lead,” Head Coach Andy Enfield said. “It’s really nice to see some shots go in because last week we didn’t see too many go in.”
Peterson finished with 30 points on 9-of-14 (64.3%) shooting from the field, 4-of-7 (57.1%) shooting from 3-point range, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. He also controlled the ball well and only committed 1 turnover.
“I was obviously more happy we took care of business tonight coming off last week’s road trip, but it’s cool to be able to join Boogie in the [30-point] club,” Peterson said.
Senior guard Boogie Ellis was a great second option, racking up 22 points on 6-of-13 (46.2%) shooting, including 4-of-8 (50%) from deep.
“Boogie and Drew were aggressive,” Enfield said. “They made great, quicker decisions. They shot when they were open.”
The biggest defensive contributor was sophomore guard Kobe Johnson, who stole the ball five times and got one block. He also racked up 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, the third most of his career.
“He’s our best defensive player, and he’s, in my opinion, the best defensive player in the Pac-12,” Enfield said. “He gets deflections, steals. He guards the other team’s best player, he guards big guys, he guards small guys. He can guard everything. He anticipates, he beats guys over ball screens.”
The Trojans found success on offense in many ways. They shot 33-for-56 (58.9%) from the field and 12-for-23 (52.2%) from beyond the arc. In the game prior, against Oregon State on Saturday, USC made one of 14 3-point attempts.
“We need to make our fair share of threes. We need to attempt a good number a game, and then we need to have some go in,” Enfield said. “It’s hard to win any Pac-12 game when you make one three like we did on Saturday.”
When they weren’t knocking down threes, the Trojans were driving hard to the basket and drawing and-ones.
“Our job instead of taking a poor shot is to try to drive it, make the right play, and then get off the ball, cut and relocate,” Enfield said. “I thought our players did a really great job tonight of doing that.”
USC’s bench was a major contributor to the win. Sellers scored a career-high 11 points and sophomore forward Harrison Hornery had a season-high 7 points.
“[Sellers] has improved a lot this season, defensively,” Enfield said. “It was nice for him to make that layup, and then he made those two threes and the pull-up. I thought he played really well tonight.”
USC only has five regular season games remaining. The Trojans went into the game 63rd in the NCAA’s NET rankings. They will need to make a strong push to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.
USC will face Stanford at Galen Center on Saturday. The Cardinal have won six of their last nine games, including an 88-79 victory against No. 8 Arizona last Saturday.