USC's O'Neill honored

By WAVE STAFF

Story Created: Mar 10, 2010 at 2:59 PM PST

Story Updated: Mar 10, 2010 at 2:59 PM PST

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Kevin O’Neill, who guided the USC men’s basketball team to a 16-14 record in his first season, has been named the Pac-10 coach of the year by Collegeinsiders.com.

O'Neill kept the Trojans in the conference title chase until late in the season before the team settled for a fifth-place tie. USC was picked to finish ninth in the Pac-10 before the season due to three players leaving early to play professionally and almost its entire recruiting class leaving during the summer as a result of the NCAA investigation of the program.

The Trojans fought through some early-season injuries and depth issues to knock off then No. 9 Tennessee, 77-55 Dec. 19, then went on to win the Diamond Head Classic, defeating St. Mary’s and UNLV along the way.

USC opened conference with two wins before being handed down self-imposed sanctions which would keep then out of postseason play. They continued to fight sweeping the season series from Washington and crosstown rival UCLA and were tied for first place in the conference in the loss column Feb. 18, before falling in its final five games. The Trojans had the lead or were tied in the second half in all 18 conference games and were the only team in Pac-10 play whose losses were all by 10 points or less.

Under O’Neill, USC played stellar defense leading the conference in fewest points allowed per game (57.2) and defensive shooting percentage (.384).

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