USC men’s tournament hopes are almost gone after loss to Ohio State
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There was no hiding the desperation any longer. Not with the clock ticking on USC’s narrow tournament hopes. Not with three straight losses in the rear-view mirror and only four games left in the regular season.
The Trojans’ chances to state their postseason case were dwindling fast in coach Eric Musselman’s first season, slipping away amid a stiff Big Ten slate. The cut line for the conference tournament loomed just below them in the standings.
Time was running out. Desmond Claude seemed to sense as much as the point guard careened into the lane late in Wednesday’s game against Ohio State. USC had clawed its way back from a 17-point deficit — and a disastrous first-half defensive effort — to climb within striking distance, and now Claude let a desperation floater fly, knowing full well any hope of turning the tide before tournament time hung on every hoop from here.
For a brief moment, as Claude’s floater connected and cut Ohio State’s lead to two, there was a glimmer of hope that USC still had life left in it. But with 28 seconds left, Claude brought the ball up the court only to have it poked away. A potential tying three-pointer from freshman Wesley Yates III bricked. And just like that, any chance of the Trojans stemming their late-season slide was extinguished in an 87-82 loss.
“Knowing every game counts, every game matters, and we need wins, it’s tough,” Yates said. “Words can’t even explain it.”
Spring games, in recent years, have devolved into a product that was barely more than a televised practice.
Musselman’s frustration said plenty as USC fell into a deep hole early on account of “probably the worst defense I’ve ever had a team play in my college tenure.”
Ohio State shot 73% in the first half. At one point the Buckeyes were 14 for 17 from the field. They even hit eight straight three-pointers, threatening to bury USC before it could punch back.
And yet the Trojans still found themselves with a chance to tie it late, thanks in part to a renewed defensive effort that held the Buckeyes to 33% shooting in the second half.
Yates already had 27 points, leading all scorers, when he raised up to shoot a three-pointer with six seconds remaining. The shot missed, but Saint Thomas pulled down the rebound. Then he stepped out of bounds.
It was a fittingly frustrating conclusion, at the end of a game that could’ve gone very differently. In that way, it felt like a painful microcosm of USC’s season.
USC’s sixth loss in its last seven games left the Trojans at 14-14. For Musselman, it’s just the second season in which a college team he coached fell to .500 or worse. The only other came last year at Arkansas.
“We’re not where we want to be right now,” Musselman said. “We’re not where we’ve been in the past.”
Any chance of its immediate future being brighter likely hinges on USC making a run in the Big Ten tournament. If it makes the Big Ten tournament — only the top 15 of the conference’s 18 teams will travel to Indianapolis next month. At 6-11, USC is tied with Minnesota, Northwestern and Iowa for 13th. For Musselman, missing the tournament would mark a particularly disappointing conclusion to a season that at times has held promise.
Yates did his best to keep that faith alive while Claude, USC’s top scorer this season, mostly was kept in check. But no one seemed right from the start. Even Yates later acknowledged that he felt “terrible.”
The week hadn’t exactly gotten off on the right foot. Traveling back from its farthest trip of the Big Ten slate, USC didn’t arrive in Los Angeles until 5 a.m. Monday. Players still went to class a few hours later, while Musselman wavered on whether to hold practice ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup.
Musselman insisted his travel complaints were no excuse for losing. But he made his feelings clear about how much USC has had to overcome in its first season on the road in the Big Ten.
“We’re gonna have to figure out how to overcome some of that,” Musselman said.
For this season, however, hope that USC could overcome the odds dimmed considerably Wednesday, leaving the coach to wonder where to take his Trojans from here.
“The only thing I know is to just get back in the gym and get ready for Oregon,” Musselman said. “I’m not really sure what else we can do.”
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