Trojans Get It Right in Their Home Debut

After playing Saint Joseph’s and Tennessee on the road, the USC Trojans got some needed home cooking Wednesday.

Morgan State’s shoot-whenever-you’re-open style didn’t always equate to good basketball. But it did provide USC the chance to work out some early season kinks, and the Trojans rolled to an 87-39 victory before 374 at the Sports Arena.

The win, by the biggest margin since a 91-44 decision over Arizona State on Jan. 21, 1995, improved the Trojans’ record to 1-2.

Aisha Hollans, one of five Trojans in double figures, had a game-high 19 points and five assists.

The Bears, who had 15 points by Sherie Cornish, dropped to 0-3.

The first half, in which the Trojans took a 39-20 lead, can be summed up this way. USC opened the game with four layups in their first four shots. The Bears made only five field goals (in 27 attempts, 18.5%) in entire half.

USC scored the first 14 points of the second half and were never threatened.

“The one thing we did want to work on, which we got to do in the second half, was offensive execution which was so poor against Tennessee,” USC Coach Chris Gobrecht said.

We wanted to make certain things happen rather than just take anything. It’s hard to judge in a game like this, but we made some forward strides.”

After the game USC flew to the Virgin Islands to play in the Paradise Jam Tournament. They face No. 12 Florida on Friday.