USC dominates boards in win over Utah


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The Trojans extended their win streak over Utah to four games Saturday, and were joined by alum Nick Rakocevic who has the second most all-time rebounds for USC. (Louis Chen | Daily Trojan)

Senior guard Boogie Ellis led the Trojans to a 71-56 win over Utah Saturday night. Ellis led the team in scoring with 17 points alongside 3 assists and 2 steals.

The Trojans, fresh off a win over Colorado, looked to extend their homecourt winning streak to nine while the Utes attempted to end a two-game losing streak against UCLA and Oregon.

Despite the rare heavy rain in L.A., the stadium’s energy was high. The fans wearing red and gold were not shy to cheer on their fellow Trojans.

Sporting red and black, the Utes displayed impressive ball movement right off the bat. Junior forward Ben Carlson’s early offensive rebounding effort led to a shooting foul on the Trojans. Fifth-year guard Marco Anthony then hit both free throws to open up the scoring column.

Utah’s star player, senior center Branden Carlson, spent much of the game escaping double teams. Even with strong USC defensive emphasis, the Utes’ offense still found success when running through him. Carlson scored 17 points behind 77.8% accuracy in the first half.

After a slow start, rebounding for the Trojans improved as the first period progressed. Sophomore guard Malik Thomas fetched USC’s first offensive board 10 minutes into the game. Thomas’ hustle play ignited the team’s rebounding efforts as the Trojans obtained 12 out of 16 first-half rebounds in the game’s final 10 minutes.

Freshman guard Tre White stepped up as Utah’s defense focused its efforts on Ellis and fifth-year guard Drew Peterson. White led the team in scoring by the end of the first half with 11 points, shooting 5-for-6 from the field. White also pulled down two offensive rebounds.

The second half was much smoother for USC. After attempting zero shots in the first half, sophomore guard Kobe Johnson scored all of his 9 points in the second. Additionally, the team actively shut down Branden Carlson, withholding him to just 4 points, in contrast to 17 points in the first.

“Well, he had the first 4 points in the second half, he didn’t score the rest of the game …. If he got the ball in the post on our guard we double-teamed him right away,” said Head Coach Andy Enfield on what led to the improved defense. “Our rotations were right there, we were engaged. It’s hard to guard him because he’s a pick-and-pop five, he’s so skilled, he’s an all-league player, he’s really good.”

Apart from defending the paint, the Trojans showcased incredible resilience in perimeter defense, cutting Utah’s 3-point percentage from 42.9% to a dreadful 18.2% in the second half. The Trojans in white successfully shut down junior guard Gabe Madsen, the Utes’ best 3-point shooter from deep, keeping him to just 2-for-10 from behind the arc.

Trojan momentum truly sparked after White’s steal on the defensive end, leading to a 3-on-1 fastbreak opportunity. White then caught a mesmerizing alley-oop from Peterson at the other end of the court as fans got on their feet. This play stunned the Utes’, last line of morale with nine minutes left. Compared to the calm Trojans, the Utes were rushing plays to hope for a miracle. Playing under pressure resulted in poor Utes offense as they gave up 4 turnovers out of a game total of 10 in the last nine minutes.

“It was even crazier with the atmosphere whenever we have the gym packed like this, these are the best games,” said White in a postgame interview. “I live for these games.”

USC spread the ball around, with four players scoring double digits. The Trojans also recorded 18 total assists from nine players. 

“We’ve really been playing well together,” said Ellis who contributed 9 assists in his last two games. “Getting a lot of threes up, driving and kicking, I feel like when we’re doing that, we’re at our best.”

 “We had a team effort tonight on both sides of the ball,” said Head Coach Andy Enfield in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “That’s important for us to play smart offensive basketball, we really improved offensively especially in the last couple weeks … very proud of our effort, and how unselfish they’d become on offense.”

One key contributing factor to USC’s success was their second-half defense. The Trojans held the Utes to 25% shooting in the second half compared to 44.8% in the first. 

USC will face the University of Arizona next at McKale Center in Tucson Thursday at 6 p.m.