This victory was not only the fifth in a row for Arizona, but it was also a nice revenge win after it lost a four-overtime game to the Trojans on January 9. After leading by three at the break on Friday night, the Trojans were outscored 47-37 by Arizona State.
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“It’s a big win for us at this point in the season”, ASU coach Bobby Hurley said.
After rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat UCLA, No. 14 Arizona turns its sights on trying to avenge the other half of its two losses during its Los Angeles road trip last month when it hosts No. 23 USC on Sunday night.
Tollefsen had 11 points in a 21-6 run that began with 11 minutes remaining in the first half and helped Arizona take a 46-30 halftime lead. “The way we guarded the 3-point line, and forced some turnovers, our activity was really good, and to hold them to 67 is a challenge because they can really score and they have a lot of talent out there on the court”. Out of the gates in the second half, ASU went on a 10-5 run against the Trojans and never trailed again.
Blakes and Holder sank 3s in what turned out to be a decisive surge.
“We have to play with great energy, we gotta scrap and claw and commit ourselves to playing defense like we did tonight and then we’ll be in every game”, Hurley said. “We played hard at times. We’re not really focussed on the rankings right now; we’re just focused on getting better”, Boatwright said. USC rallied to cut it to 70-68 with 6:40 to play, but the Trojans missed their next nine shots and the Wildcats pulled away. Both teams have winning records when they have 20 or more three point attempts.
Former USC coach Kevin O’Neill gets zero credit publicly, but two of his players are the bedrock of the current team: Jacobs and Jovanovic.
“We gave them 12 extra possessions, five more turnovers and they had seven more offensive rebounds than us, ” Enfield said, “so you give up 12 extra possessions to a team on their home court, you are going to lose”. I like Arizona to win this game, but I think USC will be able to keep it close. USC becomes a much less effective team, as demonstrated when the Trojans blew a 22-point second-half lead against Washington after he suffered an ankle injury.
Arizona State guard Gerry Blakes, left, dribbles the ball against Southern California forward Malik … “But I thought some of them were open and if you are open then you have to take them and I think that we’re capable of making them”. They’re 14-0 at Galen Center, 4-7 in games played anywhere else. Trojans lost at Arizona State for the eighth time in nine tries.
The USC Trojans rank 74th in offensive rebounds, and the Arizona Wildcats rank 11th in the nation in defensive rebounds.
Dusan Ristic and Kaleb Tarczewski each sank a pair of free throws, Trier hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock wound down and Kadeem Allen made a driving floater in a 9-1 spurt that put the Wildcats back in control 79-69 with 3:36 to play.
No. 17 Arizona men’s basketball shouldn’t need quadruple-overtime to knock off USC this time around.
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Gabe York passed the 1,000-point mark for his career on Sunday night.
