SoCalHoops College News

USC Drops First Pac-10 Loss To Arizona 87-78--(Jan 4, 1999)

Well, it had to happen sooner or later.  Personally, we were hoping for later, because we always like to see the underdog continue to become the top dog.  Well, we didn't think that USC was going to go undefeated in the Pac-10, but it was fun while it lasted.  We also didn't believe they would continue with a 9-game winning streak at the Sports Arena.  Actually no one thought that USC would beat Arizona two times in a row.  Not seriously anyway.   Well, ok, a lot of us did.  But then that was before this game.  Just wait until next time. Oh, wait that's at Arizona. Well, there's always next year.

Actually there must not have been a lot of believers because the crowd was pretty sparse. Despite the fact that school is out for most of the LA City Schools and there aren't any tournaments going on this week, this game just wasn't a big enough draw to get more than about 4100 people into the Sports Arena, and that was the official "paid" attendance, so the crowd was probably smaller than that.   But if you didn't make it over to downtown LA, then you missed what was actually a pretty good game.  At least for a while.

Remember, this was time for revenge, and Arizona really wanted this game badly. Last year in the final game of the season at the Sports Arena, USC beat then-No. 2 Arizona, ruining their 19-game winning streak with a 91-90 overtime win, and also ruining their hopes of  an undefeated Pac-10 season.  And after Saturday night's severe bushwacking at Pauley Pavilion, Lute Olsen was in the mood for something different. He didn't use the same strategy he did against UCLA, which was to send out the thugs:  He only played Edgerson the thug only 15 minutes. He played Wessel only 5.

This was basically the A.J. Bramlett, Michael Wright, Richard Jefferson and Ruben Douglas show.  And most of all, it was the Jason Terry show: He played all 40 minutes of the game, every one of them. Terry finished with 16 points, 14 of them in the second half, and he just was on fire in the last half of the game. Richard Jefferson also managed to score a career-high 24 points;  Jefferson's prior high was 17 points against Florida International on Dec. 20. Jason Terry had 14 of his 16 points in the second half.  The Trojans shot poorly, only .366 while Arizona shot around .500 from the field, both shot about the same from three point and the line (each almost .700 from the line) but Arizona just killed on the boards, outrebounding USC 50-34. 

USC actually led for most of the game. Trailing by nine at the half,  Arizona got back into the game with a 17-8 run to start the second half, including seven straight to tie the game at 52.  The teams then traded one-point leads several times until Larry Ayuso scored seven points in two minutes to put the Trojans ahead, 66-61, with about 7:30 in the game.  The Wildcats then scored four straight before Jeff Trepagnier hit one of two free throws to tie the game for the last time at 67-67. 

The Trojans, now 9-2 overall and 1-1 in Pac-10, couldn't pull it off though, and lost it in the fourth quarter, largely because they couldn't stop Jason Terry, and because Sam Clancy, who scored 16 points, fouled out with 2:40 to play.   Terry managed to get off 8 points for Arizona in the final 5 minutes, and his shooting also broke a 67-67 tie and  with a 3-pointer and a basket off a turnover by Brandon Granville, the Wildcats had the lead once and for all, 72-67. Larry Ayuso took a three point shot with about 40 seconds remaining, but it was blocked by Terry. 

The Wildcats who are 9-1 on the year and now 1-1 in Pac-10 play, almost lost this one. It would have been the first time in Olson's 16 years of coaching at Arizona that the Wildcats would have lost back-to-back games to the Trojans.

Arizona (87) at USC (78) 01/04/99

Arizona (87)

                POS MIN  FG-FGA  FT-FTA  3P-3PA ORB-TRB AS ST BL TO PF  TP
Wright,Michael    F  30   5- 9    1- 1    0- 0    4-12   0  1  2  2  3  11
Jefferson,Richard F  31   7-11    9-11    1- 4    2- 8   6  0  0  2  3  24
Bramlett,A.J.     C  31   4- 4    5- 8    0- 0    3-10   2  0  1  2  5  13
Wilson,Traves     G  18   2- 7    0- 0    2- 4    1- 3   2  1  0  2  1   6
Terry,Jason       G  40   7-13    1- 4    1- 2    0- 3   4  1  0  4  3  16
Douglas,Ruben        23   3-11    4- 6    1- 3    0- 3   0  0  0  2  4  11
Anderson,Rick         7   0- 1    0- 0    0- 1    0- 0   1  0  0  1  1   0
Wessel,Justin         5   0- 0    0- 0    0- 0    0- 0   1  0  1  1  1   0
Edgerson,Eugene      15   2- 4    2- 3    0- 0    4- 8   1  0  0  3  2   6
TOTALS              200  30-60   22-33    5-14   15-50  17  3  4 19 23  87

           FG %: .500  FT %: .667  Three %: .357  Team Rebs: 3

Southern California (78)

                POS MIN  FG-FGA  FT-FTA  3P-3PA ORB-TRB AS ST BL TO PF  TP
Spanich,Adam      F  24   2- 7    0- 0    2- 6    0- 3   1  0  0  1  2   6
Clancy,Sam        F  32   6-11    4- 7    0- 0    6-10   0  0  1  2  5  16
Scalabrine,Brian  C  34   3- 9    2- 2    0- 1    4- 7   6  0  0  2  4   8
Granville,Brandon G  30   4-10    1- 2    2- 7    1- 2   4  0  0  2  5  11
Trepagnier,Jeff   G  37   4-12    6-10    0- 3    2- 4   5  3  3  1  4  14
Wilder,Quincy        11   1- 3    0- 0    0- 1    0- 0   1  0  0  3  1   2
Ayuso,Elias          19   2-11    6- 6    2- 8    0- 1   0  2  0  0  2  12
Turner,Jarvis        12   4- 8    1- 2    0- 0    1- 5   1  2  1  0  2   9
Bluthenthal,David     1   0- 0    0- 0    0- 0    0- 0   0  0  0  0  0   0
TOTALS              200  26-71   20-29    6-26   15-34  18  7  5 12 25  78

           FG %: .366  FT %: .690  Three %: .231  Team Rebs: 2

Arizona                   35 52 --  87
Southern California       44 34 --  78

Officials: Dave Libbey, Tommy Nunez, Mark Ayotte
Attendance: 4116  

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