USC Men’s Basketball: Trojans upset No. 9 Tennessee, 77-55
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In his first college basketball game in nearly two years, journeyman Mike Gerrity scored 12 points, had 10 assists and led USC to a 77-55 upset of No. 9 Tennessee at the Galen Center on Saturday.
Gerrity, who is playing on his third team in five years, was eligible to play after the NCAA granted him a waiver Friday afternoon.
Combined with Gerrity’s whirling performance and a strong outing from the defense, USC (5-4) won its third in a row, and snapped Tennessee’s four-game winning streak, giving the Vols (8-2) just their second loss of the season. Their other loss came against No. 5 Purdue, 73-72, in the finals of the Paradise Jam tournament.
It’s USC’s first win against a ranked team this season. The Trojans had lost their two previous games against ranked teams (No. 2 Texas and No. 23 Georgia Tech) by a combined 45 points.
USC held Tennessee to its lowest scoring game of the season. The Vols’ previous low (57) came against DePaul.
Gerrity started quickly Saturday, recording seven first-half assists that helped the Trojans to a 33-20 lead.
That lead was fueled by USC’s 14-1 run to end the half, and 10 of those 14 points came on assists from Gerrity. In the second half when Tennessee was in its full-court press, Gerrity threw back-to-back home-run passes that resulted in easy baskets for USC.
He got a short breather with 10:18 left in the second half, but senior guard Dwight Lewis picked up the slack, scoring nine straight points to put USC up 59-40 with 8:47 left. Lewis finished with 21 points.
USC started burning clock from that point, and the lead stayed near 20.
USC had 20 turnovers to Tennessee’s eight, but the Trojans out-rebounded Tennessee, 43 to 21. Alex Stepheson had 19 points and 15 rebounds for USC, his fourth career double-double. Nikola Vucevic had 15 points and 10 rebounds, his fifth double-double.
-- Baxter Holmes