USC shut out of Pac-12 men’s basketball honors

The Pac-12Conference announced its all-conference, all-freshman and all-defensive teams Tuesday and no USC players were among the honorees.

USC finished 1-17 in conference play and enters this week’s Pac-12 tournament with a 6-25 record.

“If you don’t win, you don’t get anything,” USC Coach Kevin O’Neill said. “That’s just the way it is.”

Awards and all-conference teams are chosen through a vote of league coaches, who cannot vote for their own players.

O’Neill said he thought sophomore guard Maurice Jones and Byron Wesley were worthy of recognition.

“There’s no question in my mind both those guys deserve to be on those teams but it goes back to not winning,” he said. “Byron, in my mind, is one of the five best freshmen in the league.

“I hope it shows all of our guys that you don’t get rewarded for losing. You get rewarded for winning and obviously we didn’t win enough.”

California guard Jorge Gutierrez was voted player of the year and defensive player of the year, Washington guard Tony Wroten freshman of the year, Washington State forward Brock Motum most improved player of the year and Washington’s Lorenzo Romar coach of the year.

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