Trojans see big upside in double losses

NEW YORK -- Two games for USC in three days, against two top-five teams on two coasts.

The Trojans could have been run over by No. 2 Memphis on Tuesday night like a pastrami sandwich dropped in Broadway traffic.

Instead, they took the ferociously athletic and veteran Tigers to overtime and walked out almost surely the best 6-3 team in the land.

A play here and a play there, and the inexperienced if not exactly young Trojans would have been the toast of Broadway.

Instead, they were edged by unbeaten Memphis in overtime, 62-58, in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, only two days after losing to then- No. 4 Kansas by four at the Galen Center.

There were stretches of smothering defense and terrific explosiveness and a couple of did-you-see-that dunks by Davon Jefferson, the freshman who doesn’t get talked about half as much as O.J. Mayo but is talented enough that he might not be long for USC either.

Before any of that, there is a season to play, though, and when somebody asked Coach Tim Floyd if a team that starts two freshmen and three sophomores might be at risk of wilting under the double disappointments, he fairly bristled.

“Absolutely not. We could have said that after the Kansas game,” he said. “If anything, we have a tremendous belief system.

“I don’t think there’s any team in the country with a bigger upside than us right now.”

Yes, isn’t it curious that top-five teams keep playing poorly against the Trojans?

USC is making that happen, and the only thing between the Trojans and a couple of huge upsets is momentary lapses of judgment that they should be able to resolve. And the lapses were far fewer against Memphis than they were against Kansas.

Mayo, for the early part of the game, kept his game more under control, and his shot selection and decisions were better. Taj Gibson was more active offensively against the intimidating Memphis interior, stayed out of foul trouble until late, and had eight rebounds. Jefferson, always game for a flashy play, pulled down 13 rebounds.

And the Trojans, after throwing away points at the free-throw line against Kansas, made 19 of 23 against Memphis. Although yes, Daniel Hackett missed one with five seconds left that would have given USC a one-point lead.

Still, put it this way, if the Trojans are the sixth-best team in the Pacific 10 Conference, as advertised -- well, they just aren’t.

USC was not supposed to be the show at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night -- the marquee might as well have read “2008 NBA Lottery Preview” for all the talk about Mayo, Derrick Rose of Memphis and Michael Beasley of Kansas State, three freshmen who could easily be among the top-five picks in June.

Beasley entered the early game against Notre Dame leading the nation in scoring among all players. Rose and Mayo have been going at each other for years.

Mayo’s first game in L.A. drew less than 4,000 at the Galen Center, but among the crowd of 8,300 at the Garden, signs abounded, including mock-ups of a jar of Hellmans and a carton of Tropicana.

On one baseline, there was an unexpected sight: Lakers owner Jerry Buss, seated courtside.

“I’m a Trojan,” said Buss, who went to graduate school at USC. “And I like seeing the young talent that will be the high picks in the draft. We never get one, but it’s still fun seeing them.”

Beasley was a bit of a disappointment, stifled by Notre Dame’s zone and finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 68-59 loss, his eighth double-double in eight games but short of his 30-point outbursts.

Rose, a point guard, had nine points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Mayo had 16 points on what ended up six-for-20 shooting after a four-for-nine first half, and had only two turnovers.

He pressed on some shots late in regulation and overtime, and his alley-oop pass for Jefferson in overtime was too high.

But if you look at him as nine games into his college career instead of seven months from the NBA draft, you’re pretty pleased.

“It’s a long season,” Mayo said. “We just finished the first part. We’re playing hard, rebounding well.”

His teammates sat slouched around him.

“I thought we kept our composure,” Jefferson said. “We just let it slip away.”

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com