USC basketball team continues to make strides

From the mid-size town of Bethlehem (Pa.), Lehigh entered the Galen Center on Thursday, offering USC a potential letdown threat the night before the night before Christmas.

But instead of letting down two days after a narrow upset at Tennessee, the Trojans issued a start-to-finish beatdown, the 76-49 romp handing Coach Kevin O’Neill an early present and USC its fourth win in five games.

“We’ve come a long way from when we were at TCU,” O’Neill said. “We’re really making some strides.”

In that 81-69 loss on Nov. 29, USC looked lifeless, so O’Neill made practice brutal the following week to make sure his players knew they’re a defense-first squad.

Since then, USC (8-5) has steadily improved, beating two ranked foes in Texas and Tennessee, the latter upset aided by newly eligible junior guard Jio Fontan, who scored a game-high 21 points against Lehigh in his home debut.

“It felt good to get some claps instead of some boos and to finally put on a white jersey,” Fontan said. “I felt like a real Trojan.”

And whereas finishing off opponents was USC’s problem in close losses against Bradley, Nebraska and Kansas, it sure wasn’t against the Mountain Hawks (6-6).

The Trojans had 9-0 and 12-0 runs in the first half, led by 17 at halftime, and fattened that lead to 29 with 4:49 left.

But besides dominating on the offensive end, USC didn’t let up on defense, finishing with a season-high eight blocks and holding Lehigh to 31.5% shooting, a season-low for a USC opponent.

Lehigh star guard C.J. McCollum entered the game with the nation’s 12th-best scoring average (22.5), but was held to seven points after being hounded by USC defensive specialist Marcus Simmons.

It seems the Trojans, who are 7-1 when holding teams to 40% shooting or less, understand their identity.

“We have to play defense,” said junior forward Nikola Vucevic, after recording a career-high six blocks to go along with 16 points and 10 rebounds, his Pacific 10 Conference-leading seventh double-double.

Vucevic’s big night was a bounce-back from a season-low four points against Tennessee.

Senior forward Alex Stepheson added his fourth double-double (11 points, 14 rebounds) and senior guard Donte Smith added 13 points off the bench. Fontan made all four of his three-point shots and had four steals.

O’Neill had warned his team that letdowns occur before the holidays, but he was impressed with USC’s focus.

“We kept playing until the end of the game, which is something we’ve been looking for,” O’Neill said.

USC has six days before Pacific 10 Conference play starts against Washington on Wednesday at the Galen Center, where the Trojans beat the Huskies by 26 last season.

And O’Neill likes where the team is now, largely because of Fontan. “He’s raised our level,” O’Neill said.

Fontan is averaging 16.3 points after three games for USC, but he credited O’Neill.

“We take on the character of our coach: We defend and play hard,” he said.

It took time, and his addition, to get USC to this point.

Now that they’re there, what’s the plan for league play?

“To win it,” Fontan said.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com