USC Struggles Early and Late

Tim Floyd knew there would be nights when his young team made confounding mistakes and failed to execute even basic concepts.

USC realized its coach’s worst fears when it made lazy passes, missed free throws and committed silly fouls Thursday night at the Sports Arena. And that was just in the first six minutes.

The Trojans might have overcome the display they put on in the early stages of an 86-77 loss to No. 13 Washington if the shaky play didn’t suddenly return in the final six minutes.

After trimming what had been a 19-point deficit to three with 5:44 left on two free throws by Dwayne Shackleford, USC’s ugly side reappeared. The Trojans failed to protect the three-point line on defense and couldn’t knock down shots on the other end.

Sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt, whose six second-half three-pointers had fueled USC’s furious comeback, missed his last three shots from long range. Center Abdoulaye N’diaye flubbed the ball underneath the basket. And a baseline jumper by Nick Young was blocked.

“It just seemed like we were rushing a little bit,” Young said. “We didn’t get into our offense like we normally do.”

Washington’s Bobby Jones and Mike Jensen sandwiched three-pointers around a pair of Pruitt free throws and the Huskies extended their lead back to a comfortable margin and held on to win their first road game of the season.

“We didn’t communicate well and they lost sight of their men and gave up big baskets,” said Trojan freshman guard Ryan Francis, who fouled out with 8:23 left on a charging call.

USC, 11-5 overall and 2-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference, has now lost three of five games, and a common thread has emerged in each defeat as the Trojans have yielded better than 50% shooting from the floor.

Washington (13-2, 2-2) made 50.8% of its shots and outrebounded the Trojans, 46-24, more than compensating for its 28 turnovers.

“Normally you force 28 turnovers, you’re going to have a chance,” Floyd said. “I think [77] points is enough to win a college basketball game, we just couldn’t stop them.”

Senior guard Brandon Roy had 23 points on eight-for-11 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Huskies, who have won their last four meetings with the Trojans and haven’t lost in the Sports Arena since the 2001-02 season.

The one bright spot for USC was the play of Pruitt, who scored all 21 of his points in the second half after missing all six of his shots before halftime.

“I was thinking too much in the first half,” said Pruitt, who made six of 20 shots overall.

“I let it come to me in the second half and I tried to do a better job fighting off screens.”

Lodrick Stewart and Young added 15 points apiece for USC, which was outrebounded by 17 in the second half.

“We just got manhandled on the boards,” Floyd said. “They just completely controlled the glass on both ends and gave themselves second-chance opportunities.”

Tensions escalated early in the second half when N’diaye was called for an intentional foul on Washington forward Jon Brockman, prompting Husky Coach Lorenzo Romar to run onto the court and physically restrain his players in an attempt to defuse a potential melee.

Floyd also raced onto the court to protest the call, arguing that N’diaye should have been allowed to land after being pump-faked into the air.

“I didn’t think the guy could continue to elevate out of the building,” Floyd said. “I thought he had to come down at some time.”

A Trojan student section significantly larger than usual had little to cheer about in the first half as a determined group of Huskies, apparently motivated by an upset loss to Washington State, capitalized on USC’s malaise by opening a 19-point lead.

Washington still led by 13 points at halftime despite committing 14 turnovers; the Huskies outrebounded the Trojans, 19-14, and made 55.2% of their shots.

Jones, a senior, had 15 of his 22 points in the first half and made the defensive play of the game when he rejected a layup attempt by Pruitt after Pruitt had stolen the ball on the other end.