USC can’t slow down Allonzo Trier and Arizona in 90-77 loss

The most frustrating part of playing at Arizona, where the Wildcats have won 70 of their last 71 games after USC’s 90-77 loss on Thursday, is not when a visiting team is playing poorly.

That is to be expected. Wait until a team has a chance to play well here. Then futility can be understood.

USC learned this late in the first half. The Trojans were shooting the lights out. They were making smart cuts and scoring easy baskets. They packed the paint to fluster Arizona’s imposing frontcourt.

At one point, the Trojans led by nine points, and some in a rabid student section began to pull Arizona bucket hats — the night’s giveaway — over their eyes.

Then, with a little more than two minutes left, the lead began to disappear. Arizona made four three-pointers right before the half. USC (21-7, 8-7 in the Pac-12 Conference) had mostly outplayed the Wildcats. They still trailed by five at the break.

Playing first-place Arizona (26-3, 15-1) anywhere is a challenge. Playing Arizona at the McKale Center, where 14,644 ornery partisans gathered to scream for two hours on Thursday, is like trying to wrestle a boa constrictor. Every mistake is hammered.

That was how USC shot 53% from the field, earned more free throws and battled Arizona to a near draw on the boards — and still lost by 13 points.

Arizona squirreled away points every time USC gave it an opening. USC turned the ball over 14 times; Arizona just eight. USC scored nine points off turnovers. Arizona scored 23.

“The difference in the game was the extra possessions,” Trojans Coach Andy Enfield said.

Arizona used those extra possessions to shoot three-pointers. The Wildcats made 11 of 20, led by Allonzo Trier, who made four and scored 25 points. When USC pressed out, Arizona then could feed inside.

“We were trying to take the three away,” Enfield said. “Then we tried to double the post. Then they kick it out and make another three.”

With three minutes left in the game, the Trojans were nearing strange statistical territory. At the time, USC was shooting 58%, on pace for its best shooting performance of the season. Yet Arizona led by double digits.

USC pulled within seven points with less than two minutes left, but Arizona’s Lauri Makkanen burst past Jonah Mathews for a layup to extinguish any late rally. Markkanen finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

For USC, Chimezie Metu scored 15 points with 12 rebounds, and forward Bennie Boatwight led the team with 23 points.

USC’s players walked to their bus afterward without much visible anger. At least their schedule would turn more friendly. Over the past two weeks, USC has played and lost to No. 6 Oregon, No. 5 UCLA and No. 4 Arizona.

“It’s tough playing the top four, five six teams,” point guard Jordan McLaughlin said. “Nobody else in national college basketball is doing that.”

But he noted: “My freshman year we lost a lot of games. I mean, I’ve been there. So we haven’t witnessed anything like that.”

The skid does inch USC into a slightly more precarious position for an NCAA tournament bid. The Trojans aren’t yet on the bubble. But a loss to Arizona State on Sunday would ratchet up the pressure for the Trojans’ final homestand, against Washington State and Washington.

Still, the most likely consequence of Thursday’s loss isn’t a lost bid, but a lost opportunity to improve USC’s seeding. USC has avoided any bad losses, but it has yet to convince pollsters and amateur bracketologists.

At different times after the game, Enfield remarked that, “We’re right there.”

“We’re close,” he said a few minutes later.

“We thought we would’ve had a chance if we just played a little better defensively,” he said at another point.

McLaughlin scored 13 points and played 34 minutes, despite applying a pillow-sized heating pad to his lower back during every timeout.

“My back’s been killing me a little bit,” McLaughlin said. The pain began earlier this week, “but it should be all right,” he said.

The pain made worse an already brutal week of practices, the fallout from a 32-point loss to UCLA. McLaughlin said Enfield stressed competition, one-on-one duels, “different drills that question your heart.”

Losing after such a week, Boatwright said, “It’s frustrating. But we got better this week. And we’ve got to keep getting better.”

zach.helfand@latimes.com

Follow Zach Helfand on Twitter @zhelfand