Out of the Blue, USC Defeats Tar Heels

Turns out Tim Floyd didn’t need the Galen Center and a couple of heralded recruiting classes to accomplish something special.

His USC Trojans arrived ahead of even the most optimistic expectations Wednesday night at the Sports Arena during a 74-59 victory over No. 17 North Carolina.

Shortly after USC center Abdoulaye N’diaye dunked an alley-oop pass from Ryan Francis to set the final margin, fans from a season-high crowd of 5,921 stormed the court to celebrate with the Trojans.

“It felt like a championship,” sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt said. “I always wanted to run around the court like that.”

USC (8-2) stretched its winning streak to eight games and won for the first time in eight meetings with North Carolina because of suffocating defense.

The Trojans forced 25 turnovers and held the defending national champions to 25% (eight for 32) shooting in the second half, including 14.3% (two for 14) from three-point range.

“They were the aggressor,” said Tar Heel Coach Roy Williams, whose team had defeated the Trojans by 32 points last year in Chapel Hill. “They were smarter, they were coached better. There’s no other way to put it.”

Any doubts about how far USC had come since season-opening losses to Cal State Northridge and Oral Roberts were erased during a crisp second half in which the Trojans wiped out a five-point halftime deficit.

Junior guard Lodrick Stewart, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes, put the Trojans ahead for good with consecutive three-pointers midway through the second half. USC pulled away in the final seven minutes, capping the victory with a pair of highlight-reel dunks by N’diaye. Every time it seemed as if North Carolina (6-2) might make one of its patented runs, USC responded with a steal or a timely three-point basket. The Trojans made seven of 10 three-pointers and shot 57.1% in the second half.

USC also made 10 of its 16 steals after halftime, with Pruitt and Stewart picking up four apiece for the game.

“We’ve grown up a lot since the first couple of games of the year defensively,” said Floyd, who has the Trojans off to their best start since they opened the 2001-02 season 13-2. “We’ve learned to get back defensively, and we’re controlling the tempo of the game.”

North Carolina had one last chance to get back into the game when Trojan swingman Nick Young fouled Marcus Ginyard driving to the basket and received a technical foul for jawing at the Tar Heel freshman with 3:01 left.

“I was so into the game I lost control a little bit,” said Young, who fouled out on the play.

North Carolina guard Wes Miller made both of the technical free throws and Ginyard made one of his two shots to pull North Carolina to within 65-57, but Stewart’s fourth and final three-point basket of the game 20 seconds later put the game out of reach.

“Lodrick grew up a lot tonight,” said Floyd, who had hurled his play sheet in exasperation after Stewart made a wild first-half pass. “He went out and rebounded and really defended and had the poise to take great shots.”

Young scored 18 points and was one of four Trojans in double figures along with Stewart, Pruitt (16) and Francis (12).

Senior forward David Noel scored 19 points and freshman forward Tyler Hansbrough had 16 for North Carolina, whose turnovers were a season high.

“We stood around, and we didn’t get good ball movement,” Williams said. “This was the first game of the season I thought our guys looked like freshmen.”

The Tar Heels may have lost all five returning starters and their top seven scorers from a year ago, but the team that starts three freshmen regained a bit of its swagger Dec. 3 with a victory over then-No. 10 Kentucky in Lexington.

“It’s still North Carolina -- one of the best programs,” Stewart said. “It’s a great memory I’ll always have and something I can tell my son about when he grows older.”