USC’s second-half comeback holds off Vermont at Galen Center

Expletives rained down from the USC coaching staff as the Trojans were held without a field goal for the first four and a half minutes to start the second half in their matchup against University of Vermont. USC was facing a half-time deficit and was flat-out being outplayed by the mid-major Catamounts. But the Trojans turned it around the rest of the second half, improving their shooting percentage by more than 20% to hold on and get their second win of the year, scraping by with a score of 59-57.

USC was led by strong second-half play from fifth-year guard Drew Peterson who scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half. The Trojan’s offense ran through Peterson in the second half, isolating him in the low post against the smaller Vermont defenders. His decision-making was the key to the victory, as he finished with 8 assists and zero turnovers.

“We open the [second] half pretty well, and it’s just something where we need a little bit more toughness and I think we found that in the second half and we have to keep doing it,” Peterson said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “They got after us in the locker room, especially[Associate Head] Coach [Chris] Capko, and you know sometimes we really need a kick in the ass and that’s awesome because Capko was ready to do it.”

Peterson was no stranger himself to letting a few choice words fly, as he exclaimed ferociously to the crowd after making a clutch turn-around and-one jumper with only 1:57 left to play. This would put the Trojans up five and signify the cherry-on-top to the Trojans’ comeback victory. USC prevented the Catamounts’ first victory against a power-five school in nearly 14 years, as their last win came against Colorado all the way back in 2008.

While it was still a great win and showed that the team had a lot of mental toughness, USC can’t continue to have such lackadaisical starts. The Trojans shot an abysmal 25.9% from the field in the first half and had only 2 field goals in the final 11:40 of the first half. The Trojans also continued to struggle from behind the three-point line making just three of their 16 attempts.

“Even though in our scrimmages we scored 87 and 86 points and looked great and made shots, when the lights turn on it’s a little different,” said Head Coach Andy Enfield after the win. “I think these guys are finding that out. We’re patient with them, very encouraging with them and we hopefully will build on this win and get better.”

The real encouraging sign from USC was their defense. They held a Vermont team who was averaging just over 84 points per game on 45.5% shooting to just 57 points and only 36.8% from the field. The Trojans were able to speed up the Catamounts on offense, not allowing them to get comfortable at any point. USC started marking Vermont from full-court and then switching into a 2-3 zone, pressing them for entire possessions.

Another promising point from the game was the emergence of freshman guard Tre White, who logged a career-high 31 minutes. Although he only scored 4 points, his real impact came on the class. White led the team with 10 total rebounds and showed constant resilience on the defensive end. 

“The little things really got to be our identity, and I tried to just embrace that,” White said. “I know my offense is going to come. We’ve got scorers all over the court, I know what’s gonna come to me often so I really just try to take pride in the little things, and that’s what’s going to keep us moving forward.”

The Trojans have little time to rest before their next game, where they’ll face off against Mount St. Mary’s University  Friday at 8 p.m. in what will be their fourth home game in a row at Galen Center.