Snapshot: USC Trojans 85, CU Buffs MBB 65
Turning point: CU cut a 17-point lead down to nine midway through the second half, but the Trojans squashed the Buffs’ comeback bid with a 12-1 run.
Buff of the game: KJ Simpson. The sophomore guard finished with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals without committing a turnover.
What’s next?: The Buffs host No. 4 UCLA on Sunday in the penultimate game of the regular season (2 p.m., CBS).
So much for coming up with a little late season magic.
After the dramatic ups and downs of a wildly inconsistent season, the Colorado men’s basketball team hoped a run of three consecutive home games to close the regular season might give the Buffaloes a chance to light a spark going into the Pac-12 Conference tournament.
USC squashed those hopes.
Unable to slow a hot-shooting Trojans team the entire night, CU dropped an 84-65 decision on Thursday night at the CU Events Center. It was the Buffs’ third loss in the past four games, while the Trojans secured a two-game regular-season sweep of CU for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
The defeat also secured CU’s first losing record in league play since 2017-18.
The two losses this year against the Trojans essentially summed up the Buffs’ season. On Jan. 12 in Los Angeles, the Buffs held USC to a .426 mark — which was just .373 after a 7-for-10 start for the Trojans — but were done in by 22 turnovers. On Thursday, the Buffs matched a season-low with just six turnovers, but USC’s .569 field goal percentage was the second-best mark by a CU foe this season.
“The one thing we know about the 2022-23 Colorado basketball team through 29 games is we’re not a consistent group,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “The two USC games are the epitome of that. We’ve proven that through 29 games. Thatap just who we are.
“You let a team come into your own building and shoot 57% from the field and outrebound you by eight, itap going to be tough to win a game. USC was the better team.”
The Trojans took control with a 13-2 run in the first half, eventually building a 43-30 halftime lead. USC pushed its advantage to 17 points with 14 minutes, 59 seconds remaining when the Buffs attempted to make a run, scoring eight consecutive points in an 11-2 burst.
CU got within nine points on several occasions in the middle of the second half, but USC put the game away with a 12-1 run that gave the Trojans a 73-53 lead.
While USC was hot from the opening tip, shooting .630 in the first half and finishing with an 8-for-19 mark on 3-pointers. Earlier this week, Boyle said slowing the high-scoring USC tandem of Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson at the 3-point line would be critical. While Ellis enjoyed a strong game overall with 21 points, he and Peterson combined to go just 3-for-11 from the arc. However, role players Kobe Johnson, Tre White and Reese Dixon-Waters combined to go 15-for-22 overall and 5-for-8 on 3-pointers.
“I think it was just defensive lapses,” CU guard KJ Simpson said. “A lot of it was just off our ball-screen defense. We didn’t have high hands. Passes were just going straight through the defense and guys were wide open. They’re Division I players. Just because they’re not Boogie or Drew Peterson, they’re going to make a three if itap open. We’ve got to do a better job of just rotating on defense and making that extra effort to fly around.”
Simpson finished with 18 points, five assists and four steals while enjoying just his second turnover-free game of the season, but he finished 7-for-16 overall and 1-for-5 on 3-pointers. Leading scorer Tristan da Silva was held to six points on a 2-for-9 night from the field, and the Buffs finished 6-for-28 on 3-pointers.
“I felt like the last time we got beat like this was in Utah (on Feb. 11),” Boyle said. “But I felt like in Utah we had some fight defensively. Even though we didn’t guard like we’re capable of guarding, we still had some fight. Tonight, I just didn’t feel like that fight was there. And I don’t know why.”
Southern California 84, Colorado 65
SOUTHERN CAL (20-8, 12-5 Pac-12 Conference)
Morgan 4-5 0-1 8, Ellis 7-16 5-6 21, K.Johnson 6-9 1-1 15, Peterson 5-12 0-0 11, White 4-5 1-2 10, Dixon-Waters 5-8 3-5 15, Iwuchukwu 0-0 0-0 0, K.Wright 2-3 0-2 4, Sellers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-58 10-17 84.
COLORADO (15-14, 7-11)
da Silva 2-9 2-2 6, Lovering 4-6 1-2 9, Clifford 3-10 1-1 7, O’Brien 4-7 3-4 12, Simpson 7-16 3-4 18, E.Wright 2-6 0-0 6, Allen 2-8 1-2 7, Hammond 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-66 11-15 65.
Halftime — Southern Cal 43-30. 3-point field goals — Southern Cal 8-19 (Dixon-Waters 2-3, K.Johnson 2-4, Ellis 2-7, White 1-1, Peterson 1-4), Colorado 6-28 (E.Wright 2-4, Allen 2-7, O’Brien 1-3, Simpson 1-5, Hammond 0-2, Clifford 0-3, da Silva 0-4). Rebounds — Southern Cal 41 (K.Johnson 7), Colorado 33 (Lovering 7). Assists — Southern Cal 12 (Peterson 6), Colorado 12 (Simpson 5). Total fouls — Southern Cal 13, Colorado 16. A — 6,638.
