Trojans extend win-streak, defeat Huskies 

In front of a lively Saturday night crowd, the Trojans notched their 12th consecutive home win this season, topping the Washington Huskies 80-74. This marks USC’s 17th win of the season and puts them at 9-3 in conference play.

The last matchup between these two teams saw the Trojans best the Huskies 80-67 in Seattle, where leading scorers for both teams, senior guard Boogie Ellis and senior forward Keion Brooks, both scored over 20 points.

While Brooks repeated with a 22-point performance, this time around it was freshman guard Tre White and sophomore guard Kobe Johnson that shouldered the offensive load for the Trojans putting up 22 and 21 points, respectively. This marked career highs for both players. 

Johnson also continued his stellar two-way play with 4 steals, highlighting exactly why he ranks second in the conference in steals per game. Despite an ankle injury, Johnson played through the pain.

“If I am able to play through it … I need to be there for my guys however I can,” Johnson said.

Head Coach Andy Enfield had high praise for Johnson’s performance.

“Johnson played one of the best games I have ever seen a Trojan play,” Enfield said in a postgame interview. “To have 21 points on seven shots, five assists, four steals, no turnovers and to make those big plays defensively and offensively — it was really impressive.”

White has continued to flash his dynamic abilities on offense, averaging 12.5 points over the last six games. But White noted how the team as a whole has helped facilitate this offensive improvement.

“I feel like as a team we’ve gotten better … anybody is open on any possession, so it could be anybody’s night,” White said.

The win also saw freshman forward Vincent Iwuchukwu take the floor for his first start as a Trojan, replacing injured junior forward Joshua Morgan. The Trojans were also without sophomore guard and sixth-man Reece Dixon-Waters, who suffered an ankle injury in Thursday’s game against Washington State.

These injuries prompted USC to utilize a variety of bench options, including sophomore forward Harrison Hornery, who finished the game with 19 minutes played.

“[Hornery] is an extremely smart basketball player … he had two huge defensive plays down the last couple of minutes,” Enfield said. “Five rebounds and that big steal — that’s the type of effort you need off the bench when you have some guys out.”

Notably absent from USC’s offensive production tonight were Ellis and fifth-year guard Drew Peterson. While both combined for 25 points, they shot just 8-28 from the field. Despite their breakout scoring performances against cross-town rival UCLA last week, they seemed to play a larger role in other aspects of the game, with Peterson finishing with 10 rebounds and Ellis with 5 assists.

USC’s early aggressiveness forced Washington junior center Braxton Meah out of commission after he committed three personal fouls with 9:24 still remaining in the first half. This granted the Trojans the ability to move away from the 3-pointer, where they shot a lackluster 1-9 from deep in the first half.

Washington fared no better in the first half of play, shooting just 30% from the field and 16% from the 3-point line. Washington’s inability to score efficiently gave the Trojans a 34-27 lead at the half.

The Huskies exploded on a 10-0 scoring run to begin the second half, giving Washington a 37-34 lead with 16:32 remaining.

The rest of the second half was neck and neck, with seven total lead changes. However, a series of clutch 3-pointers and lockdown defense capped a 14-2 run that gave USC the necessary late-game boost to close it out.

“Whenever our team has that mindset like we have to get stops, we have to get this rebound, I feel like we are pretty hard to beat,” White said.

This win not only further built on USC’s case for an invitation to this season’s March Madness, but also held personal significance for Coach Enfield — who won his 200th game as head coach of USC. However, Enfield doesn’t see it as a personal accomplishment, but rather as a reflection of the team.

“We are in this for the program … I’m very proud of our assistant coaches and everybody that works so hard to give us a chance to win,” Enfield said. “This is something that I share with our players and our staff,” 

USC will next take the court when they head to Eugene to face Oregon next Thursday at 8 p.m.