The USC Trojans turned a lead into a loss against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at home, falling 69-66. Both teams fought to the last second for a crucial Big Ten win.
With 24 seconds on the clock, the Gophers scored a pair to cut the Trojans’ lead to one point, making the score 66-65. In the following play, Minnesota’s head coach Ben Johnson stepped onto the court to get one of the referees’ attention while junior guard Desmond Claude dribbled the ball up the court, and one of the referees inadvertently blew his whistle to grant the Gophers a time-out.
“I don’t want to get fined, but I just watched it. We clearly have the ball. It’s inbounded,” USC head coach Eric Musselman said. “I’m not even going to complain about that part. What I am going to complain about is someone going out on the floor when we have the ball.”
After the timeout, the Trojans turned the ball over twice, forcing the team to foul senior guard Lu’cye Patterson to stop the clock, sending him to the charity stripe where he was perfect for the last minute of the game in his four attempts.
Following the Trojans’ final timeout with three seconds left of the clock, Yates had possession of the ball but slipped on the floor and was unable to make a play before time expired.
Musselman explained what this loss could mean for the team’s place in the upcoming Big Ten tournament. Only the top 15 teams will earn a place in the conference tournament.
“We don’t want to be left out,” Musselman said. “That’s now in jeopardy.”
The Trojans had control of the game for the entire first half, which started with Claude knocking down back-to-back triples at the top of the key. The team was able to create separation from the Gophers with dagger threes from redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III, graduate guard Chibuzo Agbo and Claude, who combined for 21 from behind the arc.
Even though the Trojans led by as many as 14 in the first half, the team turned the ball over six times in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Gophers tried to close the gap, but the Trojans went on multiple scoring runs that didn’t allow the Gophers to get a rhythm.
The Trojans made the Gophers work hard for points in the paint, forcing them to take shots from the perimeter, where Minnesota averages just 33%. In the first half, the Gophers shot 3-11 from behind the arc and at the half, the Trojans led 38-29.
“I thought at halftime we could have been up by more than nine if we played a little bit cleaner basketball,” Musselman said. “We ended up playing super sloppy basketball in the second half.”
The Trojans were outrebounded by the Gophers 22-13 in the second half and gave up another eight turnovers, which the Gophers converted into 11 points.
After Patterson got fouled with 12:46 to go in the second half, the Gophers went on a 15-3 run. Patterson finished the game with a season-high 25 points, beating his record set in the previous game against Illinois. Patterson drew eight fouls and went 11-13 from the line, helping his team pull away from the Trojans in a crucial moment.
Minnesota completed the job despite the Trojans only allowing senior forward Dawson Garcia, the Big Ten’s fourth leading scorer, to score seven points for the entirety of the game.
“The philosophy I’ve always had is to try to contain and shut down their star. We did that,” Musselman said. “It’s probably as good a game that we could have played guarding their best player, who averages 19 points a game… But, you know, they had another guy step up.”
Offensively, the Trojans couldn’t find their flow in the second half and only made eight field goals in the final 20 minutes.
Agbo, who had seven threes in his last game against Penn State, was perfect from the perimeter tonight, scoring 18 points. Yates and Claude joined the double figures club tonight, with 18 and 12.
Saint Thomas and Rashaun Agee both had seven boards for the team, but Musselman said that, though the rebounding was good for the night, “We need more of it.”
“At halftime, guys just took a deep breath and relaxed,” Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson said. “I thought we were able to rely on our defense the second half and get stops, especially early, to cut into the lead, and once we started getting some stops and getting some rebounds and 50/50 balls, I thought that carried over to just running better offense and getting downhill more.”
At 4:43, the game was tied 58-58. Claude and Thomas attacked the rim to draw fouls, Yates made a crucial three and Agbo drew a foul at the three, but the team as a unit didn’t seal the game.
“Based on how our schedule was… this game was monumental,” Musselman said. “There’s no excuse for this game, but I know the next three-game segment is like an NBA team going on a brutal road trip.”
With the Trojans sitting at 6-8 in the Big Ten, ranked 11th in the conference, the team will probably need to win at least two of its remaining six games.
USC will open the three-game stretch against the Maryland Terrapins on the road on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.