USC men finally right the ship against Washington

This was not the tournament contention Eric Musselman hoped his team would be fighting for come his first March as USC’s coach. But the season had slid away through a frustrating February, and now his Trojans were left tiptoeing along the brink of the Big Ten tournament cutline, a discomfiting place he never expected them to be in his debut.

There was no changing all that now. What USC could still do, with the Big Ten’s last-place team on deck for its final home game, was win and all but ensure it’s in a field it should have easily made in the first place.

USC wouldn’t have much trouble with that Wednesday, as it dispatched Washington 92-61, finally putting a stop to a frustrating five-game losing streak.

“We knew we had pressure to win this game tonight,” Musselman said. “Plain and simple.”

The win wouldn’t technically secure USC its spot in the Big Ten tournament next week. It still needs an Iowa loss over its next two games to earn a place in Indianapolis next week, and even still, the conference tiebreakers could get thorny, if the Hawkeyes were to beat Michigan State on Thursday night, instead of Nebraska on Sunday. A win over UCLA in the regular-season finale, however, would seal it for USC.

No matter what happens, as the likely 15th and final seed in the tournament, USC has a long, difficult road ahead if it hopes to get past that.

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That picture didn’t always seem so bleak for USC. At the start of February, the Trojans took care of Michigan State, the current Big Ten leader, on its homecourt. They were 5-5 in the conference then, firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble.

USC had lost seven of eight games since before Wednesday, three of which came against teams in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings. That’s the worst mark of any team in the conference over the last month.

The losing, coupled with brutal cross-country travel, took a toll. “When you’ve lost seven out of eight,” Musselman said, “it’s never easy on anybody.”

The coach insisted that the travel was no excuse for the Trojans’ poor performance in February, but he once again made it known how unhappy he was with it.

“We have not played good basketball down the stretch,” Musselman said. “But tonight is our largest margin of victory. We were in town for a little bit, and we finally got our legs back.”

Wednesday certainly felt like a departure from that dark stretch, in spurts at least. USC was absolutely blistering from deep, knocking down 15 of 26 from three-point range. With its offense finally in rhythm, USC also tallied 24 assists, its second most in any game this season.

Rashaun Agee got the Trojans going first from deep. Fresh off his best game of the season — a 29-point effort in Oregon — Agee hit three first-half three-pointers. During one stretch, he scored 10 points in three minutes. He finished with 18.

Desmond Claude, on the other hand, was coming off his worst performance of the season in Oregon. He scored just a single point and missed all nine of his shots in the loss. But on Wednesday, he brushed off those struggles without a second thought.

Claude scored 25 points, in one of his finest performances of the season; though, his most important role came in initiating the Trojans offense, as he was responsible for 11 assists, the most of his college career.

“I had to bounce back,” Claude said. “That’s what good players do.”

The Huskies still hung on for a while, cutting USC’s lead to single digits with 15 minutes remaining. They never got any closer.

Chibuzo Agbo would ensure that was the case from thereon out. He hit three straight second-half three-pointers to bury Washington for good. He would finish with 26, his highest-scoring game at USC.

But the biggest cheer came after the game was well in hand and the USC bench had cleared, as senior Harrison Hornery, playing in his final game at Galen Center, hit a corner three. Hornery, the last holdover from the previous Trojans roster, had watched his role diminish all season.

In one final flourish on Senior Night, Hornery would end on a high note. And USC would head into its final weekend of the regular season, hopeful that soon enough its place in the Big Ten tournament next week would be assured.