Reign of Troy » Omar Oraby

Trojans Falter In Vegas Despite Late Comeback, Lose 69-66 To Utah

Evan Budrovich — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:14:37 +0000

The USC Trojans came storming back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to no avail as the Utah Utes escaped with a 69-66 victory in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament. The final moments perfectly depicted the agonizing season full of controversy, moments of glory and plenty of head-scratching results.

March 13, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Utah Utes celebrates as Southern California Trojans guard Byron Wesley (22) reacts during the second half in the first round of the Pac 12 tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Utah defeated Southern California 69-66. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

J.T. Terrell drained a deep three-pointer cutting the lead to three with 41 seconds to play. On the next possession, the Trojans played sound defense, forcing a contested shot from the hottest player on the court in Jarred DuBois. Jason Wasburn grabbed the rebound but missed the put-back attempt giving USC one last shot to score.

Byron Wesley was then stripped of the basketball and JT Terrell could not fire up a shot before the buzzer, ending the game and the season for USC.

“I’m proud of our guys efforts overall, but we came up just came up a bit short tonight,” Bob Cantu said.

Omar Oraby led the Trojans with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 35 arduous minutes for the Trojans. The losses of Dewayne Dedmon and James Blasczyk were a big concern before the game, but Aaron Fuller and Oraby played extremely well in their absence. Fuller was one of two players to come off the short bench for USC, registering six points in 14 minutes of action.

The Utes took a nine-point lead midway through the first half by feeding the ball down low in the post. Jason Washburn registered eight first-half points, and attracted double teams all night long. Jarred DuBois was the greatest benefactor of this pressure, hitting 7-12 shots from the field capitalizing on numerous open shots from the perimeter.

DuBois led the Utes with 22 points, making critical baskets to counter the Trojans gutsy performance in the second half. “We had a difficult time with DuBois, he is such a crafty player and was hitting open shots all night long,” Cantu said.

The Trojans struggled to find any rhythm in the first half, shooting 34-percent from the field. A big reason for that was the struggles Jio Fontan, Byron Wesley and JT Terrell had in the first-round matchup.

The three players combined to shoot 12-35 in the game, numbers that stack very poorly against their strong performances in the teams first meeting.

“They [Utah] keyed in on our players, they had a great game plan we didn’t get as many looks as I would like,” Cantu said.

March 13, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans guard J.T. Terrell (20) dunks over forward Aaron Fuller (21) against the Utah Utes during the second half in the first round of the Pac 12 tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Utah defeated Southern California 69-66. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Trojans went on an impressive 12-0 run cutting the Utah lead to one with 3:46 to play. The comeback was fueled by Terrell’s second-half points including a monstrous putback slam that brought the entire MGM Center crowd to their feet.

In the end however, the Trojans flurry was for not as the Utes continued to make open shots, knocking in nearly 50-percent (7-16) of their shots from behind the arc. Jarred DuBois nailed the biggest shot of the game, hitting a three-point shot after curling off a strong double screen.

The final game of the season was full of agony, excitement and disappointment. The Fighting Cantu’s played another game within eight points, capping an epic ride in what could be the interim head coaches final game.

“I am very fortunate to be at USC for 12 years. We have had great coaches, great teams, and great players,” Cantu said. “Thankful to our guys who worked hard at practice and games.”

The USC Trojans improved their win total (plus-8) this season, fighting a coaching change, countless injuries and two suspensions in the seasons final week.

“At end of the day, we are a team. If one messes up we all mess up, we didn’t do what we need to win,” Byron Wesley said.

USC Vs. Arizona State: Men’s Basketball Preview

Evan Budrovich — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:48:57 +0000

January 24, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils center Ruslan Pateev (23) and USC Trojans guard Jio Fontan (1) battle for the ball during the second half at Wells Fargo. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

USC Trojans vs. Arizona State Sun Devils

Galen Center | Los Angeles, CA
12:00 PM Pacific | Fox Sports Net

USC and Arizona State square in a critical matchup for seeding purposes in the Pac-12 tournament. If the season ended today, the Sun Devils and Trojans would own the sixth and seventh spots in the race to face the “bottom three” teams in the first round.

The Trojans have won five of their last seven, shooting the lights out in the process. In their last contest on Wednesday, USC won their most impressive game of the season, dominating Arizona from the tip to avenge their 24-point loss.

The Sun Devils have been falling in the other direction, losers of four out of their last six games. In their last game against UCLA, the Sun Devils came storming back in the final minutes only to fall in overtime. After losing at home to Washington, chances at the NCAA Tournament are fading quickly, making this game extremely important.

The first meeting did not lack the flair for the dramatic as Arizona State won in overtime 98-93. The Trojans shot the lights out from behind the arc draining 15-28 shots including a few desperation shots from 30-feet by J.T. Terrell. In the end however Jahii Carson and Evan Felix 49 points propelled Arizona State to the victory.

In terms of actual matchup, Arizona State presents numerous problems all over the court. The Sun Devils are led by redshirt freshmen Jahii Carson, who leads all freshmen with 17.7 PPG, on 45-percent shooting. The issue for Arizona State is that Carson takes too much of the burden for the offense.

Evan Gordon and Carrick Felix will work to provide support in the scoring department. Gordon lives and dies by the three, draining 36-percent of his shots from downtown. Felix meanwhile, is a smaller power-forward who rebounds the basketball proficiently because of his ability to time missed shots, despite his smaller frame.

The Sun Devils are playing poor basketball at the most important time, largely in part due to their lack of ability to win the battle on the glass. In a staggering home loss to Washington, they got outrebounded by 14, resulting in numerous second chance points for the Huskies.

Despite the Trojans size on the front-court, USC is a below-average team in the rebounding department. The Trojans were out rebounded by Arizona State in their frist meeting and rank 10th in the conference in rebounding with only 34 per game.

If Omar Oraby can repeat his epic performance against Arizona the Trojans will have a strong chance. Oraby played the game of his life against Arizona, recording five blocks and eight rebounds in 18 minutes of action. The Trojans can handle a loss of Dewayne Dedmon to foul trouble if Oraby and swingman Aaron Fuller can defend the paint.

The Sun Devil’s Jordan Bachynski and Jonathan Gilling will attempt to battle the Trojans’ front court. Bachynski will look to protect the paint with his conference-leading 3.7 blocks per game. This underrated matchup could decide the game because both teams love to push the pace and attack the basket. Whichever team can defend the paint by grabbing key defensive rebounds will control the tempo.

Projected Starting Lineups

USC (13-15, 8-7)

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht./Wt.	Class	PPG	RPG
G	1	Jio Fontan	6-0/175	RS-Sr.	9.7	1.7
G	22	Byron Wesley	6-5/210	So.	10.6	4.5
G	20	JT Terrell	6-3/185	Jr.	11.3	2.0
F	14	Dewayne Dedmon	7-0/255	RS-Jr.	6.5	7.0
F	34	Eric Wise	6-6/240	RS-Sr	12.3	5.8

Arizona State (20-9, 9-7)

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht./Wt.	Class	PPG	RPG
G	1	Jahii Carson	5-10/175	Fr.	17.7	3.2
G	10	Evan Gordon	6-1/187	Jr.	10.6	2.9
F	0	Carrick Felix	6-6/197	Sr.	14.3	8.3
F	31	Jonathan Gilling	6-7/219	So.	9.9	6.4
F	13	Jordan Bachynski	7-2/250	Jr.	9.4	6.4

USC Vs. Washington State: Men’s Basketball Preview

Evan Budrovich — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:00:21 +0000

Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

USC Trojans vs. Washington State Cougars

Galen Center | Los Angeles
8:30 PM Pacific | Pac-12 Network

The USC Trojans won their most important game of the season last week, defeating UCLA in overtime 75-71 at New Pauley Pavilion After waiting over a week, the Trojans next competitor Washington State comes to Galen Center looking to temper USC’s momentum.

The Washington State Cougars have hit rough times in Pac-12 play, but have shown an innate inability to give elite teams trouble. In non-conference play Washington State utilized their offense in the post to attack opposing teams, battling the likes of Kansas, Gonzaga, Texas A&M and Pepperdine and held their own while losing all four contests.

Besides a 37-point bludgeoning against Kansas, the Cougars lost the other three games by a combined 5 points. Washington State actually controlled the first half and presented quite the difficult challenge until Kevin Pangos made a last-second layup, giving Gonzaga the victory.

Losers of four out of their last five, Washington State (11-11, 2-7) has seen better days. The Cougars are led by Mike Bone, who owns a 57-46 (.553) mark with Washington State. Bone has definitely been the Cougars most successful coach earning more wins than nine previous men’s basketball coaches.

The main force behind the Cougars attack, Senior 6-foot-10 forward Brock Motum is averaging 18 PPG on 46-percent shooting. Motum can score from the perimeter, shoot the deep ball, carrying the team on his back offensively.

The biggest way to slow down the Australian force is by applying pressure with size and double teams to disrupt his rhythm. Motum scored a season-low 11 points against Arizona State, who have 7-foot-2 Jordan Bachynski to clean out the lane.

Expect Omar Oraby to recieve more playing time in this matchup, using his size to push out Motum, easier said than done however. Luckily for Washington State’s chances, size is no problem on the depth chart.

The Trojans will have to face another 6-foot-10 goliath in D.J. Shelton, who preferes to play away from the basket and stretch the defense. Shelton loves the 3-PT shot, shooting 41-percent from downtown and will take close to 40 percent of his shots from there.

Washington State is the lowest scoring offense in the conference, only averaging 63 points per game, but make up for their struggles on the defensive end of the court. The Cougars allow a league-low 60 points per night, and post strong defensive rebounding numbers.

The Trojans will have a chance to climb out of the bottom of the standings and make a run towards a five-five spot on Thursday. USC is currently ninth in the Pac-12 but only one game away from fifth place. This weekends series could push the Trojans back into the top-tier of the conference.

The Trojans biggest weakness remains on the glass and also defending the three-point shot. In order to combat these problems, the Cougars will need to improve their team 32-percent three-point shooting. This matchup definitely favors USC, but the Cougars could present some major problems if the pace of play slows down.

Projected Starting Lineups

USC

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht./Wt.	Class	PPG	RPG
G	1	Jio Fontan	6-0/175	RS-Sr.	9.5	1.6
G	20	JT Terrell	6-3/185	Jr.	10.2	1.9
G	22	Byron Wesley	6-5/210	So.	10.0	4.5
F	14	Dewayne Dedmon	7-0/255	RS-Jr.	6.3	6.7
F	34	Eric Wise	6-6/240	RS-Sr	12.5	5.5

WSU

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht./Wt.	Class	PPG	RPG
G	2	Mike Ladd	6-5/195	Sr.	11.5	5.9
G	22	Royce Woolridge	6-3/175	So.	8.3	2.7
G	3	DaVonte Lacy	6-3/208	So.	9.1	2.5
F	23	D.J. Shelton	6-10/240	Jr.	5.3	5.9
F	12	Brock Motum	6-10/245	Sr.	18.3	6.7