A sea of cardinal and gold trickled into Galen Center Wednesday night for the highly anticipated Big Ten matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes (16-13, 8-10) and the USC Trojans (14-14, 6-11). Unfortunately, the Trojans could not pull off the victory for the 5,720 fans in attendance, falling 87-82 to the Buckeyes.
The Trojans picked up their fourth consecutive loss on Wednesday, while the Buckeyes snapped an ugly three-game skid. This game marked the first time the Buckeyes and Trojans faced each other since 1997, when the Trojans lost 79-73.
After winning the opening tip, USC’s graduate forward Josh Cohen opened up the scoring with a quick hook shot in the paint, giving the Trojans a 2-0 lead. USC and Ohio State would battle back-and-forth the next few possessions until Ohio State’s shooting took off. Both teams shot well from the start, knocking down their first four out of five shots.
While both USC and Ohio State started hot, only the Buckeyes kept their foot on the gas and continued to bury shot after shot. In the first half, the Buckeyes shot an absurd 71.1% from the field and 88.9% from beyond the arc.
Freshman guard John Mobley Jr. knocked down three of four shots from distance in the first half, building Ohio State’s sizable lead. Junior guard Bruce Thornton also helped propel the Buckeyes to an early lead, putting up 14 points and three assists in just the first 20 minutes.
Nothing could stop the Buckeyes’ prolific scoring. The Trojans tried everything from implementing a full-court press to switching out players on defense to try and slow down the Buckeyes offense.
Ohio State’s efficient shooting left USC’s first-year head coach Eric Musselman and his staff frustrated, shaking their heads in disbelief while watching from the sideline. Tensions continued to rise after Musselman picked up a technical foul towards the end of the first.
“I thought the effort in the second half was great, and the defense in the first half was probably the worst defense that I have ever had a team play in my college tenure,” Musselman said in his postgame press conference.
The script completely flipped in the second half, as the Trojans shot 65.2% from the field and came out strong, knocking down their first four shots in a row. On the other side of the court, the Buckeyes struggled mightily, shooting just 33.3% from the field.
As USC started to cut down Ohio State’s lead in the second, Buckeye head coach Jake Diebler, also in his first season at the helm, called a timeout to stop the momentum. But the pause in the action was to no avail, as Thornton air-balled a 3-point shot right out of the break, causing Galen Center to come alive.
Lockdown defense and gritty buckets from junior guard Desmond Claude allowed the Trojans to climb back from a 15-point deficit and tie the game with 1:07 remaining.
“Go SC” chants erupted through Galen as Ohio State called a timeout late in the second half after USC tied the game at 80 apiece. However, it was too little too late for the Trojans, as Ohio State sophomore forward Devin Royal cashed in on a three-point play after getting fouled, putting the Buckeyes up 83-80.
With 28 seconds left, Claude turned the ball over, essentially ending any hope of a comeback for the Trojans. As the clock expired, fans started to leave Galen disappointed at yet another USC loss.
“We have to play way better at home,” Musselman said. “We have to play better basketball so people want to come watch us. [We’ve] got to play cleaner basketball.”
The lone bright spot from the loss came from redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III, who racked up 27 points, three assists and two steals. Yates III has now scored double-digit points in 16 consecutive games, and this was his third straight outing with at least 20 points.
“Wesley is a big part of what we are trying to do. He’s taken the opportunity and ran with it. He’s one of the best freshmen in the Big Ten and I hope he is a big piece for us next year,” Musselman said.
The Trojans will look to snap their four-game losing streak as they make the trek up to Oregon to face the Ducks in their second-to-last road game of the regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Trojans previously lost to the Ducks 68-60 in December.