USC basketball vs. Colorado score, recap: Trojans trampled at home

USC basketball wasted an opportunity to top the Pac-12 on Saturday night with a 78-57 loss to Colorado at the Galen Center.

The lowdown:

The Trojans couldn’t have started better. After Colorado committed a double dribble coming out of the tip off, Daniel Utomi struck from three. Ethan Anderson nicked the ball on the next possession and set up Onyeka Okongwu for a three-point play himself.

USC couldn’t sustain the success though. Going scoreless over the next four minutes, Colorado crept back to tie the game at six. The Buffaloes held control of the game for the rest of the half with the Trojans struggling to hit shots from the field. Following their two early makes, they finished the first half shooting just 25 percent on their next 27 shots.

At one point, Colorado’s lead was a large as 12 points as Tyler Bey hit a triple with a minute to go. Jonah Mathews picked that moment as the right time to sink a three of his own to keep the deficit reasonable.

Colorado went into halftime ahead 33-24.

Things didn’t get better for the Trojans after the break. They promptly committed a turnover off  an errant pass on their first possession and proceeded to capitulate to the Buffaloes.

With seemingly every shot falling for the team in black and USC’s own shooting less than stellar, Colorado charged out to a double-digit lead which they maintained for the entire half.

At one point, Isaiah Mobley looked to spark the Trojans with a three-pointer, but Colorado’s Lucas Siewert swished one in on the other end immediately. Utomi came back with another triple only for Tyler Bey to answer for the Buffaloes. The result? A 58-37 deficit.

That wasn’t the worst of it for USC either. They trailed by as many as 27 points with under four minutes remaining.

Mobley and Elijah Weaver produced some late scoring to make the scoreline as respectable as it could be. Colorado prevailed 78-57.

The takeaway:

Oregon’s loss to Stanford opened the door for USC to take control of first place in the Pac-12 on Saturday night. Instead, they fell flat on their face to begin another February in miserable fashion.

In the lead up to the game, Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times pointed out a devastating stat with regard to USC’s February performances under Andy Enfield: The Trojans are 14-31 in the pivotal month over the last six seasons.

Nothing about Saturday’s performance will assuage any fears of a familiar stretch in 2020.

Colorado’s Tyler Bey led all players with 16 points while the Buffaloes had three other players score 12 on the night. They shot 47.4 percent from three-point distance and 51.9 percent from the field.

USC, by comparison, couldn’t hang. The Trojans shot 37.9 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Isaiah Mobley topped USC’s scoring chart with 12 points while Jonah Mathews and Onyeka Okongwu added 11 each. The latter also led the team with 10 rebounds.

Player of the game: Tyler Bey, who was 6-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-2 on three-pointers, and led his team with 16 points and seven rebounds.

Stat of the game: USC’s 21-point loss is nothing new. Five losses this season have come by a margin of 18.6 points, as pointed out by Adam Grosbard of the OC Register.

Next on tap: The Trojans will be on the road next week, facing Arizona in Tucson on Thursday night at 6:00 p.m.