In the final minutes of a close game, shooting one-for-10 is typically a recipe for disaster — and that’s exactly what happened to the USC Trojans on Sunday night. In their first matchup as non-conference opponents in a century, the California Golden Bears took home a 71-66 victory after the Trojans could not find the nylon.
In front of a solid crowd of nearly 5,500, USC looked to be in the driver’s seat with a one-point lead and six-and-half minutes left on the clock in the second half. But from that moment on, it all went downhill. Cal sophomore guard Andrej Stojakovic — son of FIBA Hall of Famer Peja Stojakovic — showed why he was one of the top players in his recruiting class, finishing with 20 points and five rebounds. After draining two free throws to put Cal up by four with 20 seconds left, Stojakovic rejected a layup attempt from junior guard Desmond Claude that put a dagger in the hearts of Trojan fans and ultimately allowed the Golden Bears to hold onto their lead.
Other than the blocked shot in clutch time, Claude played a great game, finishing with 20 points on 50% shooting. He went three-for-six from behind the arc and was one of few Trojans that could splash one from outside — especially in the second half. After a solid five-for-12 three-point showing in the first half, the Trojans went ice cold in the second and finished one-for-nine. After the game, head coach Eric Musselman offered an answer as to why the Trojans’ shooting may have declined:
“Lack of ball movement with only 10 assists tonight,” Musselman said. “We took three questionable shots from three, although the Terrance Williams one on the go-screen was what we wanted… I thought we did a good job getting to our spots and getting him an open look — it didn’t fall.”
Despite struggling to score in the second half — only creating 23 points in the final 20 minutes — Musselman attributed the loss to the other side of the ball.
“Our lack of defensive ability really hurt us in the first half,” Musselman said. “Especially [graduate guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.]. We changed how we were guarding him, we put [graduate forward] Saint Thomas on him and we did a much better job. But it’s back-to-back games where a point guard… I mean those are two of the best performances I have ever seen… and when it happens back-to-back games it’s on us.”
The player he was referring to from last game — in which the Trojans pulled out a 98-95 victory against UT Arlington — was graduate guard Jaden Wells, who finished with 27 points after lighting the Trojans up seven times from three. And in the Cal game, Blacksher had USC’s number. He finished with 19 points, 18 of which came in the first half as he couldn’t seem to miss. After switching Thomas onto Blacksher, the Golden Bear only attempted three more shots in his final 17 minutes on the court.
Despite the loss, Musselman was able to pinpoint a few positives after his team’s matchup with Cal, especially with the late-game changes the Trojans made.
“I thought our effort was good,” Musselman said. “Getting back to the interior rebounding… there was a huge size advantage and I thought our guys were down there scrapping and trying to get loose balls and deflections.”
Musselman was bang-on that there was a major size difference between the two teams. After changing to a small-ball strategy late in the game, Cal facilitated their low-post offense through six-foot-nine center Mady Sissoko and six-foot-eight forward BJ Omot. Those two — along with six-foot-ten forward Lee Dort — made huge contributions to the Bears’ tally of 32 points in the paint. The three were electric offensively, scoring on multiple dunks, including a beautiful alley-oop that Dort finished.
The Trojans will next try their luck against the San Jose State Spartans on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Galen Center.