It happened again.
As No. 13-seeded USC lost its eighth straight game while bowing out of the Big Ten Tournament in an 83-79 overtime defeat to No. 12-seeded Washington, it collapsed in the second half.
Plagued by a November injury ending starting guard Rodney Rice’s season, multiple knee surgeries forcing a highly-touted freshman to begin his year in January and leading-scorer Chad Baker-Mazzara departing from the team just a week ago, the Trojans (18-14, 7-13 Big Ten) left the United Center with a similar feeling.
“It’s been the story of our last eight games,” coach Eric Musselman said. “As a group, we haven’t figured out how to close games.”
The Huskies (16-16, 7-13 Big Ten) evaporated USC’s 11-point second-half lead in just over five minutes as they tied the ballgame at 58 apiece before eventually pulling off the victory in overtime.
Down 80-79 with less than 10 seconds left in overtime, guard Kam Woods lost his balance and forced up a shot that missed the rim after being trapped under the hoop. At 82-79, guard Jordan Marsh tried to jump into a foul and ended up missing the rim by multiple feet instead.
In regulation, Woods missed a game-winning mid-range shot attempt.
“Coach trusted me with the ball in my hands, and I feel like I let him down,” he said as his voice cracked while fighting tears.
But it wasn’t just those plays that cost the Trojans the game; in the second half, they shot just 2-for-8 from beyond the 3-point line and were outscored by seven points.
Fatally, USC made just 55.6% of its 18 free throws on the night.
The loss wasn’t nearly as severe as the Trojans’ previous 91-72 defeat to Washington, in which they were outscored 51-29 in the second half. Or the numerous other unravelings over the eight-game losing streak.
But enough Huskies scorers came alive to force overtime as four of their players finished with double digits.
Forward Hannes Steinbach, who put up 22 points and 24 rebounds in the last meeting, was kept more at bay with 10 points and 11 rebounds. But it didn’t matter as guard Zoom Diallo scored 22 points, guard Wesley Yates III dropped in 15 points and Quimari Peterson had 15 points.
The “most injured program in college basketball,” as Musselman dubbed his team Saturday, still received a 24-point contribution from Woods, 14 points from forward Jacob Cofie and 13 points from Marsh.
But guard Alijah Arenas and forward Ezra Ausar, its top remaining scorers, combined for just 16 points and six turnovers. Neither scored in overtime.
“We got a little bit sloppy with the ball as a group,” Musselman said. “Not any one individual player at all.”
USC built a 40-33 halftime lead behind 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting and two blocks from Cofie and guard Ryan Cornish’s two early 3-pointers. But as it had gone on numerous occasions this season, they ran out of steam.
“We had to do a lot of injuries,” Musselman said. “I felt like that played a huge deal on (the losses), but we still thought we tried our best.”
The Trojans, and really none of the West Coast men’s teams other than UCLA, which finished sixth in the Big Ten regular season standings, have entirely figured out how to compete near the top of arguably college basketball’s most stacked conference. The complex travel demands and relentless schedule have left Musselman still searching for answers in USC’s second-year in the conference.
With numerous injuries and poor recent play, Musselman said the Trojans would “probably” decline any sort of postseason bid.
“I can’t wait to get to work for next year,” Musselman said, “starting tonight when I get back to the hotel.”
