USC vs. Nebraska — as it happened
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(Ethan Thai / Daily Trojan)
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Kai Assad & Sean Campbell from Galen Center; photos by Ethan Thai
Halfway through, it looks like the underdog Trojans might pull it off
Despite a slow start, USC has outshot and outshined Nebraska recently to hold a 36-31 lead heading into halftime. The Trojans held a lead for most of the last 10 minutes of the first half and will look to hold on for a win, unlike multiple blown losses earlier in the season.
Chad Baker-Mazara leads the way for USC with 14 points on 50% shooting, including a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws, though he has three fouls as well. USC as a team is shooting 100% from the charity stripe, one facet of its stellar shooting that has it beating its ranked foe.
We’ll be reporting live from Galen Center.
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3:18 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
And that’s game. Nebraska wins 82-67 after an absolutely dominant second half. USC will face a steep uphill battle to get into the NCAA Tournament after the crushing loss with just two games left on the schedule.
3:16 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
USC has tried to fight back, highlighted by multiple acrobatic scores from Arenas to bring his total to 14 points, tied with Baker-Mazara for the team lead. However, the game is still over, just waiting on the buzzer.
With about 30 seconds on the clock, Nebraska leads 82-67.
3:06 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
Nebraska scored 31 points in the first half. Through 15 minutes, they had already scored 39 more to tally a score of 70-54.
The obvious catalyst is Sandfort, who has fully come alive in the second: his 17 second-half points and 29 overall are both more than anyone else, and he’s doing it on a near-60% shooting percentage. His season high is 33, and he very well may break that today.
2:58 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
Whether pre-planned or due to performance, many of USC’s stars have played far less than a typical game. Arenas, Cofie and Baker-Mazara have all played under 20 minutes on the court with less than six remaining, and Baker-Mazara isn’t in the game right now.
The game is all but over, with Nebraska up 68-50.
2:55 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
While Nebraska has done a lot of things right to be up 18 points with under eight minutes to play — all but assuring a Husker victory — one statistic has stood out: offensive rebounds.
Nebraska has 16 to USC’s four, a major reason for the Husker dominance in the second half despite only shooting slightly more efficiently than the Trojans. Four separate Cornhuskers have multiple offensive rebounds.
2:51 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
Sandfort is playing as a man possessed. Like Goku, it’s as if he’s drawing power from the Husker crowd, and for every bucket he scores — he’s 5-for-8 with 13 points in the second half — the crowd only gets louder.
In a reversal of the first half, Nebraska is shooting an 65% from the field, while USC is shooting just 25%. The Trojans haven’t scored in about three minutes of play.
2:47 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
Nebraska is now up double digits
Though Sandfort wasn’t the Husker to push the lead to double digits at 57-46, he has been utterly dominant in this Nebraska-dominated second half, following that with 2-points of his own right after. He is now up to 22 points.
With Baker-Mazara, who has 14 points, not even on the court for USC, it has been difficult for USC to score, on top of defending the Husker forward.
Nebraska leads 61-46 with less than 10 minutes to play.
2:40 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
There’s Arenas. Or, at least, that’s what it looked like.
What appeared to be a shot-clock beating 2-point jumper was called back by officials. After Arenas got on the board a few possessions before with a spinning layup, the score would have brought USC back within two scores.
Nebraska leads 54-46 with about 12 minutes to play. The Trojans will need to go on a run soon, or else this game and their NCAA Tournament hopes may run away from them.
2:36 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
Galen Center sounds like the Coliseum whenever Nebraska scores — and not the one in L.A. A layup from redshirt freshman Braden Frager to put the score at 51-42 has the Galen Center crowd on their feet and chanting, albeit not rooting for the home team.
2:35 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
A Cofie airball, Easter II stepping out of bounds, and two consecutive Nebraska layups equal one thing: a comedy of errors. USC is just 1-for-6 in the second half, while the Huskers are shooting over 50%. Both teams are playing to their pregame expectations, but there is lots of game left for USC.
Nebraska is up 51-42 with about 13:30 to play.
2:26 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
Arenas is back in the game after missing about 12 minutes of game time. He has played a limited nine minutes thus far after not starting for the first time since his return from injury.
Arenas and Ausar, USC’s second and third leading scorers, have combined for 3 points on 1-for-4 shooting, forcing Baker-Mazara, Brownell and Woods to pick up the slack.
2:20 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
A cyclical pain of good Trojan defense and better Nebraska offense has struck Galen. A Baker-Mazara block that sent both the ball and himself into the stands simply resulted in a powerful dunk by Lawrence. Quicker than they knew it, USC’s lead has quickly evaporated into a 5-point deficit.
Nebraska leads 43-38 with about 17 minutes to play. The Trojans will need to rebound quickly if they hope to continue their upset hopes.
2:18 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
And just like that, Nebraska has a lead off a four-point play to take their first lead in over 10 minutes of play: Williams fouled Sandfort on a made 3, and he sank the free throw.
2:15 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
The second half did not start how the Trojans would want it to. Nebraska got back-to-back steals and scored fast-break points to close the lead to just 1 point in less than a minute of play.
However, a dunk from Cofie, his first points of the game, put the lead back at 38-35.
2:04 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
Halfway through, it looks like the underdog Trojans might pull it off
Despite a slow start, USC has outshot and outshined Nebraska recently to hold a 36-31 lead heading into halftime. The Trojans held a lead for most of the last 10 minutes of the first half and will look to hold on for a win, unlike multiple blown losses earlier in the season.
Baker-Mazara leads the way for USC with 14 points on 50% shooting, including a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws, though he has three fouls as well. USC as a team is shooting 100% from the charity stripe, one facet of its stellar shooting that has it beating its ranked foe.
Off the bench, Brownell has been a clear standout with 8 points, including two 3-pointers. b, shooting 3-for-4, is close behind with 7.
Arenas has played a limited nine minutes so far, missing his only shot. Cofie is also 0-for-1 and has no rebounds, despite his typical status as a double-double threat.
On the other side, Sandfort has been most of the Nebraska offense, scoring 12 points in over 19 minutes of play. Aside from Hoiberg, who’s scored a single three tonight, he’s the only Cornhusker shooting over 30%.
1:56 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
It might as well be Sunday, because Jerry Easter II has quickly taken over, swishing contested jumpers on back-to-back possessions to put USC up 36-29, their biggest lead of the night. Despite starting off slow, the Trojans have held the lead for almost the entire back half of the opening period and will look to improve it as much as they can heading into the imminent halftime.
1:51 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
The Baker-Mazara show seems to have hit another peak, as a USC trip down the Nebraska half resulted in a miraculous midrange jumper from the graduate guard while he was falling down with no control of his legs. Although it’s a close game at 30-25, Baker-Mazara is having a fantastic performance, with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
Brownell and Woods stand close behind with 8 and 7 points, respectively. The trio has accounted for 27 of USC’s 30 points.
As a team, USC is shooting an efficient 50% from the field, compared to 36.7% for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers have the slight 41.7% to 36.4% edge from beyond the arc, though.
1:46 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
Two of USC’s top scorers, Arenas and Cofie, are a combined 0-for-2 as the typical Baker-Mazara show and standout performance from Brownell are leading the way for the Trojans, which have led by as many as 6 points late in the first half.
Though he is tied for the team lead with three rebounds, Williams, who started the game, has not taken a shot.
1:40 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
Trojan defensive rebounding akin to a Dennis Rodman masterclass led to a Baker-Mazara three, which had Galen erupting as USC took its biggest lead of the day at 24-20.
Sandfort hit right back with a jump shot to close the gap to 2 points. The Husker forward has been unstoppable thus far, scoring a game-high 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
1:36 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
And now, USC has a lead — its first in about eight minutes — 21-20.
It was another trey from Brownell, who has made both of his attempts thus far, and a steal and converted layup from Woods that put the Trojans back on the map, slightly shutting down the Nebraska-majority crowd.
1:33 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
After about nine minutes, a Trojan not named Baker-Mazara or Woods had gotten on the board: Ausar converted an and-1 play. Then, less than a minute later Brownell made a contested 3 to get on the board himself, putting USC down by just 1 point, 18-17, with about 10 minutes to play in the first half.
1:32 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
Defense has been the name of game recently. Graduate guard Jaden Brownell, who entered the game in substitution for Williams, blocked a layup attempt from Nebraska junior forward Berke Buyuktuncel, and the teams were deadlocked at 15-10 before a timeout with a round 11:30 left int he first half.
Worrying for the Cornhuskers is their 35% shooting percentage right now — although it’s early, that would be their second-worst performance from the field all season.
1:25 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
After entering the game late, Arenas fell to the ground and appeared to have sustained an injury on his right leg. However, after a brief pause, Arenas ran down the court and into position, though he is still favoring his right side slightly.
1:23 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
Nebraska is owning the glass.
On back-to-back possessions, the Trojan defense stopped a Nebraska effort near the basket, but the Cornhuskers nabbed offensive rebounds, leading to second-chance points.
After leading 8-5, USC is now down 13-10 heading into a mid-first-half timeout, which followed a Baker-Mazara layup.
Baker-Mazara and Woods are the only two players to score points for the Trojans thus far, both having 5 on 2-for-3 clips.
1:19 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
After offensive disarray on both ends, the first points of the game arrived. Woods rose up for an and-1 layup, putting USC up 3-0. However, Galen Center is raucous with fans wearing a different shade of red, with a majority cheering for the visiting Huskers.
1:12 p.m.
Sean Campbell, Associate Managing Editor
The Trojans are rolling out a slightly adjusted starting lineup Saturday, with star freshman guard Alijah Arenas out of the starting lineup for the first time since his return from injury in mid-January. Graduate forward Terrance Wiliams II is taking Arenas’ spot, at least to start, as USC starts a three-forward lineup for one of the first times this season.
Here’s the full lineup:
G Kam Woods
G Chad Baker-Mazara
F Williams
F Jacob Cofie
F Ezra Ausar
1:05 p.m.
Kai Assad, Sports Editor
USC men’s basketball walks into its second-to-last home game against No. 12 Nebraska teetering on the edge of March Madness. In contrast, the Cornhuskers are having their best season ever and look to make this another easy win ahead of postseason play.
The team arrives after a brutal 20-point loss against UCLA, despite another 20-point game from graduate guard Chad Baker-Mazara.
We’ll be reporting live from Galen Center. Refresh to see live updates.
