Trojans’ defense let guard down in opener

USC employed a man-to-man defense so stifling last season that it often compensated for the Trojans’ offensive shortcomings.

On Saturday, No. 18-ranked USC unveiled what could be called a box-and-none defense during its 96-81 loss to Mercer.

The Trojans surrendered 46 points in the paint to a smaller front line, repeatedly failing to box out opponents who went in for easy put-backs. USC also failed to adequately defend the perimeter, giving up numerous open three-point attempts.

The result was a defeat that will surely knock the Trojans out of the national rankings and leave Coach Tim Floyd with plenty of talking points today when his team resumes practice after a day off.

“It’s repetitions, it’s work, it’s challenging them, it’s guys responding to the challenges,” Floyd said Saturday when asked what his team needed to do to improve defensively. “We’ll find out who we are as we proceed and as we grow. But we’re not a very good basketball team right now.”

The Trojans found themselves trailing by double digits only 6 minutes 13 seconds into the game after failing to box out BeJay Corley, who grabbed a rebound and made an uncontested layup, and neglecting to guard Calvin Henry, who made an open three-pointer.

“They got a lot of second shots, a tip-in here, a tip-in there,” USC freshman O.J. Mayo said after the game. “We’ve got to find our man and box out and just rebound better as a team.”

After trailing by 17 points at halftime, USC made a run by utilizing a pressing, trapping attack that forced 12 second-half turnovers, but the injury-depleted Trojans eventually wore down and couldn’t sustain the pressure.

“We’re going to have to work on that in practice, just staying in a stance longer,” freshman guard Angelo Johnson said. “It’s not that we do a bad job, it’s that we need to do it longer. Like instead of 10 minutes, 40 minutes.”

Mercer capitalized on the lax defense by making 59.4% of its shots, a far better conversion rate than the 39% shooting of USC opponents last season. Sophomore guard James Florence scored 30 points and was one of five Bears in double figures.

“They played hard for 40 minutes and we maybe played hard for 25,” Mayo said. “We’ve just got to work on playing hard from start to finish.”

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Junior forward Keith Wilkinson may have lost his spot in the starting lineup. He was benched for the second half after missing all four of his shots in the first, and finished with five rebounds, one assist, one blocked shot and one steal in 11 minutes.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com