Trojans edge out Bears for rebound road victory

Freshman forward Evan Mobley had 25 points and eight rebounds en route to leading USC to a 76-68 wire-to-wire road victory over Cal Saturday night. 

USC has now won its last six games against the Golden Bears — three in a row at Haas Pavilion. They are also now 10-0 on the season when leading at halftime. 

The Trojans were led by another strong defensive performance, holding Cal to 41% shooting from the field. They also controlled the boards, hustling for 17 offensive rebounds resulting in 16 second-chance points.

After dropping the previous game against Oregon State, USC needed a victory to stay alive in the competitive Pac-12 field. Last week, their Thursday game against Stanford was postponed due to a false positive coronavirus test, putting more pressure on the Trojans to bounce back. 

Head coach Andy Enfield emphasized the importance of coming out strong. 

“This was a big road win for us, coming off a loss. It was important that we got back on the winning track, which we did tonight,” said Enfield in a virtual press conference Saturday. “Our players played exceptionally hard all night and battled through [for] a big road win.”

Led by the outstanding play of Mobley, alongside redshirt senior guard Tahj Eaddy, USC was able to hang on in a game that saw 20 lead changes and five ties. 

USC blew the doors out starting on a 15-4 run, however, just like in their loss against Oregon State, they struggled the rest of the first half. Marred by six turnovers and multiple scoring droughts, the Bears were able to climb back into the game. 

Cal continued to battle throughout the game and put pressure on USC. The Trojans, however, responded, securing huge offensive rebounds and suffocating the Bears when it counted. In the game’s final six minutes, USC only allowed three field goals.

Still, USC struggled to find baskets late in the game — going five minutes without a single field goal. Sophomore forward Isaiah Mobley pulled through for his team by scoring a much-needed bucket with 1:56 remaining to secure the Trojans’ victory. 

After a quiet game against Oregon State and a sub-par first half, Evan Mobley exploded with 17 points in the second half, keeping the Trojans in control throughout. Enfield highlighted his play and emphasized Evan Mobley’s attack mentality. 

“He made really really strong quick moves and put pressure on the defense. I think you saw an improved Evan Mobley today than he was early in the week,” Enfield said. “He’s getting better and we demanded that of him this week and he responded in a huge way. Very, very proud of Evan … we need him to play like that on a nightly basis for us to be successful.” 

The win, however, was a team effort. 

Eaddy contributed 18 points along with big minutes from sophomore guard Ethan Anderson and sophomore forward Max Agbonkpolo, who played 27 and 16 minutes, respectively. Anderson had 11 points and three assists. Agbonkpolo skied for a key offensive rebound off a missed free throw with a minute left to close out the game. 

“We have to just continue to get good movement, we have to make strong moves and part of that is our skill set,” Enfield said. “Our players have to keep getting better and understand what the defense is trying to do. “I thought we were a little tentative in that stretch at times.” 

The false-positive test last Wednesday put the Trojans in a position where they might have had to quarantine another two weeks, in accordance with NCAA protocols. During a span of games where USC had been playing their best basketball, the mid-season pause could have proven detrimental. 

Enfield, however, said that he did not think the test was positive all along. 

“We thought it was false positive all along because we had had two PCR tests, one before we left on Monday, we had another PCR test on Wednesday, we had four antigen tests and everything was negative and you don’t get COVID just sitting in a hotel,” Enfield said. “It was very disappointing to have a false positive and cost us a game on the road, so we were very frustrated.”

USC will play Oregon State Thursday at the Galen Center. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.