While the Trojans had homecourt advantage at Galen Center Saturday, the arena was almost entirely Cornhusker fans as Nebraska cruised to a 82-67 win in Los Angeles. The No. 12 Cornhuskers earned a program-best 14th Big Ten win, while USC’s losing streak extended to five games and its NCAA Tournament hopes grew increasingly bleak.
Nebraska’s junior forward Pryce Sandfort was the story of the afternoon finishing with a game-high 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting including 5-of-10 from three. The crafty junior forward was held somewhat in check in the first half going 2-for-4 from deep, but he adjusted and attacked the basketball relentlessly in the second half. His 3-pointer with just nine minutes remaining in the contest pushed the Cornhuskers’ lead to 18, prompting another futile timeout from USC head coach Eric Musselman.
The Trojans played some decent basketball in the first half, taking a 36-31 lead into the break. USC shot 52% from the floor compared to Nebraska’s 35.3% and the bench contributed heavily, with graduate forward Jaden Brownell draining back-to-back threes and freshman guard Jerry Easter II making some key plays in transition.
Graduate forward Chad Baker-Mazara appeared healthy as well after dealing with knee pain against UCLA. He banked a 3-pointer as part of a six-point run to help USC build its lead, finishing with 14 first-half points.
The second half, however, told an entirely different story, not only did Baker-Mazara not score again, he went down for the remainder of the game.
With 16:59 remaining, he took a hard fall along the baseline after blocking a Sandfort shot in transition, suffering an apparent right leg injury. After his exit, the Trojans never recovered and Nebraska responded with a 12-2 run capped by a Berke Buyuktuncel dunk off a lob from Jarmarques Lawrence, then added a 15-0 run to push the lead to 20 and effectively end the game.
“The first half, I thought we played as well as we probably could,” Musselman said. “And then I thought in the second half we weren’t very good.”
That was an understatement as without its star, USC shot just 38.5% and went 0-for-9 from three-point range. Freshman guard Alijah Arenas made his first appearance off the bench this season and did his best to fill the void notching all 14 of his points in the second half. He even had a pair of baskets to briefly trim the deficit but it wasn’t enough to minimize a rolling Nebraska squad that poured in 51 second-half points.
The loss leaves the Trojans at 18-11 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten. They sit at No. 61 in the NET rankings with just two Quad 1 victories. With their NCAA Tournament hopes fading fast, USC has just two regular season games remaining—a road trip to Washington on Wednesday and a home rematch with UCLA on March 7.
The Big Ten tournament play begins March 10 at the United Center in Chicago. The Trojans will likely need multiple wins in Chicago in order to punch their ticket to the dance.