USC pummeled in 72-48 loss against No. 11 Oregon

USC fell to No. 13 Oregon 72-48 Sunday at Galen Center. The Trojans are now 10-10 overall and 8-9 in Pac-12 play. 

Sophomore forward Alissa Pili led USC in scoring and was the only Trojan to break double digit points on Sunday, scoring 14 points on 42.9 % shooting from the field. Pilli also contributed with six rebounds, two assists and one block. 

USC sophomore center Angel Jackson was second on the team in scoring, chipping in nine points for the Trojans over 18 minutes played. Jackson also chipped in one rebound and a steal.

USC head coach Mark Trakh highlighted Jackson’s aggressiveness in the tough matchup after the game.

“Angel did a really good job,” said Trakh after the game. “I just see her working harder everyday in practice, and I see her with a gleam in her eye and a spring in her step, and I just think she’s going to be really really good moving forward.” 

Jackson discussed the energy she brought to the matchup after the game. 

“I don’t like it when people are down,” Jackson said. “My team — they know that about me so they just trust in me. They are always there to hype me up and I’m there to hype them up.” 

For Oregon, freshman guard Sydney Parrish led the Ducks with a team high 17 points and four steals. Three other Ducks — senior forward Erin Boley and redshirt sophomore forwards Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally — scored in the double digits, contributing 13, 11 and 11 points, respectively. 

The game started with the Ducks finding immediate success from behind the arc. Of Oregon’s first 14 points, 12 came from behind the arc.

Pili started off hot to counter the Duck’s early barrage, scoring the Trojan’s first seven points, but by the half, Oregons’ 3-point shooting success had overwhelmed USC and led to a 39-25 lead. Much of the Ducks’ lead was built by continued success from 3-point range during the second quarter where they shot 50%. 

USC continued to struggle in the third quarter, shooting 26.7% from the field and missing their only 3-point attempt of the quarter. Oregon’s play during the quarter wasn’t exceptional — the Ducks managed to shoot 37.5% from the field and and an unimpressive 22.2% from 3-point range — but was still enough to expand their lead to 19 points by the end of the quarter. 

Despite his team’s blowout loss, Trakh expressed continued confidence in his team’s play and emphasized the need to continue getting better.

“We ran our offenses well; I thought our defense was decent, not great, but it improved,” Trakh said. “We got one more game, and then we got the conference tournament and then we got the WNIT or hopefully the NCAA depending on how we finish. I still have faith in the kids, and I know this is far from over and we just got to go and keep working hard and keep improving.” 

With only one game left on the schedule, Jackson emphasized the importance of maintaining focus heading into the postseason. 

“We know we have to work harder. We’re getting it together, but we always know there is more room to improve,” Jackson said. “So we’re going to buckle down, practice, buckle down on these last games we have, and we’re going to come out and fight, just fight.”

The loss was USC’s last game at Galen this season. The Trojans will head to Westwood next weekend to face off against crosstown-rival No. 8 UCLA. Tip-off is at 1 p.m.