Posts tagged USC
Buffs take USC, split in So Cal games
Feb 17th
LOS ANGELES – After playing a forgettable second half in a loss at UCLA on Thursday, Colorado responded with 40 solid minutes of basketball and an 83-74 victory over Southern California on Sunday night at the Galen Center. The Buffaloes (19-7, 8-5 Pac-12) finished with five players scoring in double-figures, led by Xavier Johnson with 20 points and Josh Scott with 17. CU is now 5-0 on the season when five players score 10 or more points in a game. USC (10-15, 1-11) was able to rally late and got as close as eight with 28.5 seconds remaining, but it would not be enough. The Buffs smothered the Trojans with defense, forcing 17 turnovers. USC was led by Byron Wesley, who finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Johnson got the Buffs going offensively with five of his team’s first seven points. But two quick fouls put him on the bench.
Freshman Jaron Hopkins provided a spark from the bench with career-high 10 first-half points, including a three-pointer and a layup in transition that gave the Buffs a 10-point lead on two separate occasions. CU led by as many as 11 in the first half after Xavier Talton capped a 9-2 run with a trey, making the score 36-25 with 3:28 remaining in the half. The half ended with USC’s 12th turnover and CU on top 40-32; it was the third straight game in which the Buffs had scored 40 in a half, with 13 of those points coming off Trojan turnovers. CU picked up its fourth win in four games against USC in Pac-12 play. The Buffs are also perfect against Washington State (4-0) since joining the league in 2011. Colorado returns home for its final two home games against Arizona State on Wednesday (9 p.m. MT, ESPNU) and then No. 2 Arizona on Saturday, February 22 (7 p.m. MT, ESPN) when College GameDay will be in town for CU’s Senior Day.
Buffs demonic on defense, rebound from UCLA home loss
Jan 19th
BOULDER – Any lingering memories of the Colorado Buffaloes’ painful loss on Thursday night to UCLA – their first home defeat of the 2013-14 season – were quickly blocked out on Saturday.
Literally, forcefully, fervently.
Swatting away seven first-half shots and setting a pedal-to-the-metal pace that produced an early 20-2 lead, No. 21 CU slapped Southern California 83-62 at the Coors Events Center.
“This was just what the doctor ordered for this team . . . this was the kind of game we needed,” CU coach Tad Boyle said, noting the timing of the win couldn’t have been better after the 69-56 loss to UCLA and knee injuries last weekend that ended point guard Spencer Dinwiddie’s junior season and shelved freshman wing Tre’Shaun Fletcher for 6-8 weeks. Both players will undergo surgery.
Continued Boyle: “I’m really proud of our guys, from the end of the bench to the guys on the floor, for the way they responded. We talked about it at halftime; the frustrating thing about the UCLA game was second-chance points (20) and points off turnovers (20 off of 17 CU errors). We had four turnovers at halftime (12 total) and they had two offensive rebounds.
“Our team took what they had not done against UCLA and did a much better job. Obviously it’s one game, we have to move on. I said this after the UCLA game and I’ll say it again, ‘Don’t count this team out.’ These guys have toughness, they have grit, and we can win some games in this league. All you can ask for in life is an opportunity and we have a great one in front of us.”
That would be a Thursday night game at No. 1 Arizona, followed by a Saturday visit to Arizona State – a pair of desert spots where the Buffs went 0-2 last season to begin Pac-12 play. But needing a win Saturday to break a current two-game losing streak and maybe reestablish some of their swagger, the Buffs did both against the Trojans – obviously a right-place, right-time opponent.
Still, junior guard Askia Booker, one of four Buffs in double figures Saturday, kept the 21-point blowout in perspective. “We can’t get drunk off of this win,” he said. “USC is pretty low in the (Pac-12) standings and we’re about to go play the No. 1 team in the country. We have to stay locked in as a team.”
The Buffs (15-4 overall, 4-2 Pac-12) finished Saturday with a season-high 10 blocked shots – six shy of the school record – and held the Trojans (9-9, 0-5) to 36 percent shooting from the field while hitting 50.9 percent of their own shots.
CU outrebounded the visitors by 20 (43-23), with redshirt freshman Wesley Gordon collecting a game-high eight rebounds and accounting for five of the Buffs’ blocked shots. He also scored five points, made two assists, got one steal and hit two of his three shots from the field – including his first career 3-pointer.
“I loved the pace of the game,” said Boyle. “Our interior defense was good, blocking shots was good (and) getting off to a 20-2 lead was a confidence builder for our guys.”
Booker called the Buffs’ shot blocking “very important . . . blocked shots lead to transition baskets and that’s where we’re at our best. We’ve got big guys who run and finish.”
USC, said Booker, was noticeably frustrated with having its early shots contested and rejected: “Without a doubt . . . their No. 10 (Pe’Shon Howard) was looking around like, ‘I can’t get a layup up without it being knocked away.’ It’s really good when we’re all locked in and getting that kind of help from the weak side.”
That’s what Booker supplied on one of the more creative and crowd-pleasing first half blocks. Booker, pushing 6-2 in his sneakers, flew in and batted away a layup attempt by Trojans 7-footer D.J. Haley. It was only Booker’s second rejection of the season – and don’t bet on him forgetting it.
“I guess it was a pretty nice block and I’ll probably go watch that again,” Booker said. “It’s not that high; it’s just a good defensive play and we need stops like that whether it’s from me or Jaron (Hopkins) or Josh (Scott).”
CU also was nearly perfect from the free throw line, hitting 19 of 22 (86 percent) with Booker hitting all six of his attempts. He finished with 13 points on three-of-five shooting and had six of CU’s 15 assists.
“He has never had a game like this,” Boyle said. “He played within himself and was efficient. When he’s efficient we’re pretty darn good; I thought he was terrific.”
Booker was one of four Buffs in double figures, topped by Josh Scott’s 20. Xavier Johnson and Jaron Hopkins added 10 points each. J.T. Terrell and 7-2 center Omar Oraby led USC with 16 points apiece.
The Buffs led by as many 18 points in the first half and were up 17 (40-23) at intermission courtesy of a Booker buzzer beater. It came on a sweet step back shot by “Ski,” but it wasn’t indicative of the first-half storyline.
CU was demonic on defense with its shot-blocking spree and holding UCLA to two points for the game’s first 8:18. At the 11:48 mark, the Bruins were one of 12 from the field (8 percent) and the Buffs led 20-2, with the final five points of that bulge coming on two free throws by Booker after a technical foul on USC coach Andy Enfield and a 3-pointer by George King.
None of the Trojans escaped the Buffs’ first-half intensity – not even Enfield. The CU student section harassed him – good naturedly, of course – with a blown up mug shot of his wife, former model Amanda Marcum. But that probably wasn’t what incited the “T;” blame the Buffs for that. There was no discrepancy of personal fouls: USC was whistled for 16, CU for 15.
CU vs USC: The “Wilson Show” was not enough
Jan 4th
USC blocked 10 shots and held Colorado to just 28 percent shooting in holding the Buffs to their season low in points in handing CU its second loss in its last three games, both on the road. It was just CU’s second loss to an unranked team in the last 36 games over the past two seasons.
Colorado overcame a horrific start in which it missed its first dozen shots and 16 of its first 17 to rally from 12 point first-half deficit to take small leads in the second half. The game’s first time came early after intermission, as buckets by Lexy Kresl and Jen Reese knotted the score at 24; a soon after 10-4 run gave Colorado its big lead of the night at 34-30 with 14:06 to play.
But the Buffs would endure nearly a six-and-a-half minute stretch without a field goal, though USC could only muster a 7-1 advantage in that window to take a 37-35 edge with 8:57 left. CU then countered with a 10-5 run to go up 45-42 with 4:01 remaining.
For CU, it was basically the “Wilson Show,” as the twins, senior guards Ashley and Brittany from nearby Long Beach Poly High School, played the first of their last two games in their home area and combined to score 25 of Colorado’s points. Brittany scored CU’s last field goal at the 4:54 mark and finished with 13 points, while Ashley converted two free throws for the last Colorado points with 4:01 on the clock to end with 12.
Cassie Harberts led the Trojans with 19 points, seven coming down the stretch. She made two free throws that put the Trojans ahead for good, 46-45, with 3:08 remaining, and grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a layup for a 48-45 lead with 2:20 to go.
Brianna Barrett’s layup in traffic with 48 seconds left made it a two-score game at 50-45, and 15 seconds later, Harberts sunk another pair of free throws to all but seal the win for USC. Colorado came up empty on its last eight possessions.
Colorado (10-2, 0-1 Pac-12) had trouble on offense in its conference opener for a second straight year, having fallen to Stanford, 57-40, at home last January 4.
Southern California (9-5, 2-0), which opened the week and Pac-12 play with a 56-54 win at rival UCLA on Monday, snapped a 16-game losing streak against ranked teams. Unfortunately, only a sparse crowd of 372 was on hand to witness the defensive battle and USC’s first win over a ranked school since beating No. 24 Gonzaga in December 2011.
“We’ll learn from this, and we’ll be fine,” CU coach Linda Lappe said. “We have a great group of seniors that provides us with great leadership. This was one of those games where we just didn’t play well in numerous spurts, especially the last eight to 10 minutes.”
“The problem was we were out rebounded, they made great stops, and we either fouled or did not make plays,” she continued. “We were tentative, not moving into the right spots on our drives.
“Most of (USC’s) games are won on defense. We became stagnant, and they brought all their players on drives. We had no kick-outs, they’re big and long and blocked plenty of shots inside.”
“It’s time for us to regroup,” Brittany Wilson said. “It was great to play in front of friends and family, but I also do that in Colorado and they give me support as well.”
Colorado didn’t get on the board until there was 13:23 remaining in the first half, when Brittany Wilson’s floater from the lane got a friendly bounce and dropped through. The Buffs missed their first 12 shots before that one fell, but trailed only 9-2 at that point; USC was just 1-of-5 from the field with four turnovers and built the lead converting all six of its early free throw attempts. The Trojans also blocked five of CU’s first dozen field goal tries.
USC built the lead up to 12 on two occasions, the last following a Cassie Harbert layup to make it 17-5 with 9:05 left in the half. Those were CU’s largest deficits of the season, as previously the Buffaloes had yet to trail in double figures, trailing the most at Wyoming when the Cowgirls led at nine at one point.
It was then the Trojan’s turn to get cold; USC failed to score on its next 12 possessions, missing 11 field goals and turning it over three times, and Colorado used the 6:23 scoring drought to climb back into the game. The Buffs reeled off the next 10 points to pull to within 17-15, with Ashley Wilson scoring five of the points in the run.
CU would close the half on a 15-8 spree overall to cut the USC lead to 23-20 at intermission. While CU opened just 1-of-17 from the floor, it made six of its last 16 shots, while the Trojans weren’t clicking any better, finishing the half 7-of-27. Ashley Wilson had seven of CU’s points for the half, topping her season average of 6.1 coming into the game in just the first 20 minutes.
Colorado remains in the Los Angeles area to face UCLA Sunday in an 8:30 p.m. MST tipoff; the game will be televised nationally on the Pac-12 Networks.
Lappe already knows what CU needs to do ahead of that game.
“We’ll work on our overall toughness and rebounding, we need to pass it more efficiently to our scorers,” she said. “Our passes tonight were often low or high and not very crisp. You can’t score 45 on the road and expect to win. We have to make more free throws (CU was 9-of-16) and it’s tough playing from behind almost the entire game.”