March has arrived.
The Trojans punched their ticket to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament with a grueling double-OT thriller win against Rutgers on Wednesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
After going 7-1 in the past eight games, including a deflating 27-point loss against rival UCLA on Saturday, USC entered Wednesday’s game against Rutgers with something to prove.
Both teams battled it out in the early minutes of the first half, but Trojan redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III’s 3-point jumper gave the team a lead they’d fight two overtimes to hold onto.
Yates III and graduate forward Rashaun Agee alternated shots for a brief 5-0 run that eventually turned into a 15-point USC lead with four minutes left in the half.
USC thrived from distance, going 6-of-12 from beyond the arc, and capitalized on Rutgers’ sluggish transition defense and late closeouts.
Rutgers’ freshman guard Dylan Harper led the team’s short burst of energy in the final minutes to put the Scarlet Knights back within seven of the Trojans.
Harper entered the game as the No. 4 player in the Big Ten for points per game (19.2) and finished the first half with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Despite Harper’s impact across the stat sheet, USC remained a powerhouse throughout the entire half. Graduate guard Chibuzo Agbo and Agee combined for 23 points and seven rebounds.
Junior guard Desmond Claude navigated the Trojans through Rutgers’ 3-2 zone defense, overloading the Scarlet Knights with pick-and-rolls that generated lucrative shots.
Agee drained a 3-pointer just a few seconds before the buzzer to send the Trojans into halftime with a comfortable 11-point lead at 41-30.
The second half, though, couldn’t have been more different.
Rutgers freshman forward Ace Bailey’s early foul trouble in the first half limited his impact, but the Scarlet Knights returned to battle with one mission: be aggressive.
USC struggled to handle Rutgers’ intensified full-court press, and the Trojans’ offense quickly unraveled.
Claude found himself double-teamed more times than would be preferable for USC, giving Rutgers the leverage to force turnovers and make offensive plays.
Things went from bad to worse quickly — in 1:15 minutes, to be exact. Rutgers stormed to a 9-0 run in those 75 seconds and USC continued to fatally hand the ball over, tallying seven turnovers in the span of three minutes.
Rutgers turned defense into offense and clawed its way back, scoring 17 points off USC’s 11 second-half turnovers.
Harper used USC’s turnover with five minutes left to tie the game. He sank back-to-back free throws with 36 seconds remaining to put Rutgers up by four, but USC didn’t give in.
“We had to get stops, and the biggest two stops at the end of the game, those were big,” Claude said. “We were just harping on rebounding, stopping Harper because we knew he was going to try to go and try to get a bucket.”
Yates III was perfect in two shots from the line and a layup from Claude tied the game. The teams ended regulation tied at 73 apiece.
Rutgers made the first move in overtime, but Claude tied the game back at 75-all with an and-one turnaround jumper.
Agee deflected the ball to Claude for a fast break on which he drew a foul. Claude’s two free throws put USC up by two, but Harper – who finished the night with 27 points – gave Rutgers another fighting chance with a dunk to send it to double overtime.
As if one overtime wasn’t exciting enough for a first-round matchup, the teams entered a fourth frame for five more minutes of battle.
Claude grabbed the first double-overtime points for USC with an up-and-under layup that Agee followed with a 3-pointer to give the Trojans a five-point lead they’d never let go of. Claude led all scorers with 28 points and Agee’s 23 points puts his career total at 998.
Yates III scored another triple — his fourth of the night. Meanwhile, Rutgers continued its scoring drought for nearly three minutes.
The Washington transfer closed out the second overtime with nine points to push USC to a 97-89 victory.
“Credit to Rutgers in their second half,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “Their press bothered us. But every game’s a game of three runs, and we had one in the first half, they had one in the second half, and we were able to finish the game on a run.”
USC enters round two against Purdue in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday. The teams will tip off 25 minutes after the Iowa-Illinois game ends.