USC finishes regular reason with loss to No. 10 UCLA

USC fell short against No. 10 UCLA 93-51 Friday at Pauley Pavillion in the Trojans’ regular-season finale. The Trojans are now No. 8 in the Pac-12 standings and face a major uphill-battle heading into the Pac-12 tournament. 

The Trojans started strong in the first half against the Bruins with sophomore forward Alissa Pili and freshman forward Jordyn Jenkins leading the charge. Pili led the team with 18 points and five rebounds. Jenkins contributed a career-high 14 points. 

Both teams started off slow settling into the game. USC trailed the entire game with their smallest deficit coming in the first quarter when they were down by only three. As the game progressed, however, the Trojans were unable to find their footing, and trailed the Bruins 29-12 by halftime. 

UCLA started to find their rhythm and USC could not find an answer to counter sophomore guard Charisma Osborne and senior forward Michaela Oneynwere’s. Osborne recorded a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Oneynwere scored a game-high 30 points, shooting perfect 6-6 from the 3-point line. 

“She seems to be a world-class athlete,” said head coach Mark Trakh of Onyenwere. “She’s got speed, she’s got explosion, she jumps out of the gym. She has a high IQ and [is] a future WNBA star … She’s got the whole package.” 

Jenkins had the task of guarding Oneynwere for the majority of the game and was excited for the challenge, knowing it wouldn’t be easy.   

“Matching up with her was tough,” Jenkins said.  “Especially on her senior night and me as a freshman. I knew I was in for a run. She went 6-6 from the 3-point line. She’s a great player … It was good to play against her.”

As the Trojans trailed 69-39 going into the fourth quarter, they could not find an offensive spark from Sophomore guard Endyia Rogers and Graduate transfer Jordan Sanders. Both ended the game with five points.

USC could not sustain long offensive runs, shooting 34% from the floor and making only five 3-pointers the entire game. UCLA made 16 3-pointers and shot 51% from the field. 

After the game, Trakh acknowledged that his team struggled to find their rhythm the last few games and was optimistic that they will regain it going into the tournament.

“They played very well,” Trakh said. “We’ve kind of lost our stride these last three games. I just think we’ll regain it before the Pac-12 tournament. I think we’ve been trying to wait on a lot of people coming back from injuries. We just gotta find our stride. We will be fine.” 

The Trojans struggled to minimize their turnovers on offense and ended the game with 19 turnovers in comparison to the Bruins 11. Trakh believes it was a combination of the Bruins’ ability to move the ball and his team’s lack of defense that was the deciding factor in the game. 

“I think it was ball movement,” Trakh said. “They are very athletic. They shot the ball really well. Our defense needs to get better. We got to guard behind the line a lot better … We do have  to tighten up.” 

Trakh made it clear that defense was the central issue for his team but that the biggest upside of the game for him was the return of Jenkins after being injured at the beginning of the season. 

“I think we have found [something] special over here in Jordyn”, Trakh said.  “She suffered an ACL in high school and was out for a year. She’s only been really back with us for a month right now … The one bright spot of today’s game was  the way Jordyn played tonight. I was really happy and proud of the way she competed tonight.”  

USC now waits for their seeding in the Pac-12 tournament. The Trojans will likely find themselves at No.8, which would put them against the No. 9 seed in a first-round game March 3 at 2 p.m.