Story Created:
Feb 5, 2010 at 1:38 PM PST
Story Updated:
Feb 5, 2010 at 1:38 PM PST
USC’s 25-0 run was not only a shocker to California, but it surprised Trojan coach Kevin O’Neill as well.
As he told the media following USC’s 66-63 victory Thursday at Galen Center, “Not even against a group of you guys in shorts did I think we could outscore somebody 25-0.”
Even with that remarkable run, in which a 30-17 first-half deficit turned into a 42-30 advantage five minutes into the second half, the Trojans (13-9, 5-5) had to scramble to hold off the Golden Bears (14-8, 6-4), now in a four-way tie for first place in the Pac-10.
They had to withstand a remarkable outside shooting performance Cal point guard Jerome Randle, who hit five of nine 3-pointers and scored a game-high 29 points. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to end the USC run and hit another to give them a brief 53-52 lead late in the contest.
Point guard Mike Gerrity (12 points) hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final two minutes, the second putting the Trojans ahead, 62-57 with 52 seconds left.
Four free throws by Nikola Vucevic (10 points, 10 rebounds) kept the Bears at bay.
It was simple in O’Neill’s view what turned the game in USC’s favor and led to the 25-0 run.
“For us, it all starts and ends with defense,” he said. “We held them to 38 percent field goal shooting and that’s good.”
O’Neill went to a smaller lineup to contend with Cal’s outside shooters, notably Randle and Patrick Christopher, the former Dominguez High School standout who had 11 points and was 2-of-2 on 3-point shots.
“When we went small it kept us going,” O’Neill said. “We had to do something to get us started. If we stayed big, we would have lost.”
Dwight Lewis scored 13 points, Alex Stepheson had 10 and Marcus Johnson eight for the Trojans, who host Stanford (10-12, 4-6) Saturday at Galen Center. Stanford lost to UCLA, 77-73 Thursday.
“This was a heck of a win for us, considering we were coming off two tough losses on the road,” O’Neill said.
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