Mathews secures USC win over UCLA in Senior Day thriller

To say that Jonah Mathews went out with a bang in his last game at Galen Center would be an understatement.

The senior guard missed a pair of free-throw attempts with 1:41 remaining, but he more than redeemed himself shortly after. Mathews hit a stepback 3-pointer with one second left to seal USC’s 54-52 victory Saturday over crosstown rival UCLA.

“I had a lot of emotion going through my head at that point,” Mathews said. “I made [the shot], my teammates came and swarmed me. The gym was going insane.”

It was the first game-winning 3-pointer for the Trojans since Bennie Boatwright’s deciding shot against Arizona State last season.

“[Head coach Andy Enfield] told me before that free-throw even [happened], ‘I’m putting the ball in your hands, and we’re going to live or die,’” Mathews said. “So I was like, ‘We’re going to live today. We’re going to live and celebrate.’”

Mathews went 5-for-9 from downtown on the game. He reached 247 career 3-pointers, breaking the previous USC record of 245 set by former Trojan Elijah Stewart.

“It’s very fitting that [Mathews] can end his career with the 3-point record [and] a big shot like that that he’ll remember,” Enfield said. “I can’t say enough positives about how he’s developed as a player and what he means to our program.”

Along with Mathews, the Trojans also honored seniors forward Nick Rakocevic and McKay Anderson as well as redshirt senior guards Daniel Utomi and Quinton Adlesh in the pregame Senior Day ceremony.

Rakocevic was quiet in terms of scoring with just 6 points but picked up seven rebounds, adding to his resume as USC’s second all-time leading rebounder.

Although the spotlight was on USC’s graduating class, freshman forward Onyeka Okongwu showed up to play in what may have been his last game at Galen Center, pending a potential NBA Draft declaration. The big man had 16 points, six rebounds and two assists but often struggled to maintain control of the ball, conceding four turnovers on the game.

“UCLA is a really good defensive team … and they [were] shoving [Okongwu] on every possession and grabbing him and pushing him and they tried to keep the ball out of his hands,” Enfield said. “He played a great game [today], had 16 points and he did get 12 shot attempts, but his biggest thing is his turnovers. When he gets pressure, he gets sped up.”

USC’s defense played well in its own right, as the Bruins were held to under 65 points for the first time since their Jan. 19 win over Cal. UCLA’s leading scorer on the game, sophomore forward Cody Riley, had just 13 points.

“We’re playing great defense,” Enfield said. “To hold Arizona to 48 last week, UCLA to 52, Arizona State to 61, we’re a really good defensive team. We’re very tough.”

Offensively, the Trojans remarkably shot 41% from the field, from behind the arc and from the free-throw line. USC was especially outshot from the line, as UCLA made a near-perfect 14 out of its 15 free-throw attempts.

Okongwu struggled to convert on his high-pressure free-throws, missing a pair in the final minute to allow UCLA to gain possession and take a 1-point lead with nine seconds to go.

With the win, the Trojans completed a season sweep of the rival Bruins. Perhaps more importantly, they put a halt to a seven-game UCLA winning streak and ended the Bruins’ hopes of being the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

USC rose to fourth in the Pac-12 and earned a first-round bye in the upcoming tournament by virtue of the win and a Colorado loss to Utah. USC will start its campaign for a conference tournament title Thursday against Wednesday’s winner of Arizona vs. Washington.

“Our [conference] is very, very deep this year, and anybody can beat you,” Enfield said. “The Pac-12 Tournament is wide open. [The win] means a lot for us … But at the same time, any team can win games in Las Vegas.”