USC men’s basketball continued its skid on Saturday night when the Trojans were blown out, 86-70, by Oregon State in Corvallis.
The Trojans actually shot the ball well, shooting nearly 51% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. Fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis led USC with 20 points, while freshman guard Bronny James added a career-high 15 off of the bench.
However, rebounds and turnovers doomed the Trojans. USC turned the ball over 20 times, and was outrebounded by the Beavers 28-18.
“Obviously the turnovers on the offensive end have hurt us numerous times this year,” head coach Andy Enfield said following the loss. “To have 20 [turnovers], 14 in the first half, is really frustrating. A lot of those turnovers we get sped up, or we just make poor decisions.”
The Trojans’ defense was also poor, allowing Oregon State to shoot nearly 60% from the field and 47% from behind the 3-point line. Sophomore forward Tyler Bioldeau led the Beavers with 26 points, while sophomore guard Jordan Pope added 20 and senior guard Dexter Akanno racked up 18.
“We have to get better defensively,” Enfield said. “We’ve been so good defensively the past four or five years, top 10 in the country, actually. So it is frustrating to try to figure this out, what we can do to be better on that end of the ball.”
“Teams are shooting too high a percentage against us.”
With the loss, USC has now dropped five of its past six games. After an offseason defined by hype that saw the Trojans ranked No. 21 in the Preseason AP poll, USC now has a losing record at 6-7 overall and 0-2 in Pac-12 play.
And with conference play now in full swing, the road ahead does not get much easier for the Trojans. While next weekend’s home matchups against fellow sub-.500 teams Cal and Stanford look favorable on paper, it is hard to feel confident about much of anything with this team right now.
“It’s been a grind,” Enfield said. “We’ve had two long road trips here, and it’s hard to win on the road.”
“It’s gonna be nice to go home and play some home games.”
The Trojans will return to the court on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at Galen Center against Cal. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. PST.