USC Basketball: Isaiah Collier, Boogie Ellis Power Trojans To Blowout Vs Huskies
After building out a massive 15-point advantage late into the fourth quarter, your USC Trojans managed to stave off a furious rally from the Washington Huskies to secure an 82-75 victory this afternoon and improve to a still-bad 12-17 overall record on the season. The club's backcourt was the star.
The first half was fairly even. Fifth-year senior guard Boogie Ellis looked incredibly out of sorts early, though freshman guard Isaiah Collier picked up the slack, enjoying a prolific first half.
Collier enjoyed pulverizing Washington's defense by scoring with a diverse array of offensive looks, including some baseline lay-ins and 2-of-3 shooting on triples en route to a 14-point opening half (on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor). The Trojans led at the break by a single point, 39-38.
USC is last in the Pac-12 in three-point defense, which was pretty clear in the opening half. The Huskies made 7-of-13 triples.
The Trojans went on a 10-1 run to build out a 10-point advantage in opening up the second half, tying their largest edge to that point. The Huskies' bench was responsible for helping Washington stay semi-competitive in the bout, as the starters seemed to lose energy.
Boogie Ellis rebounded from his miserable opening half. It's been rare to see Collier and Ellis both enjoy big scoring nights at the same time since the Trojans' starting backcourt returned from their respective injuries, but it was exciting to see today emerge as one of those instances.
The Trojans eventually built out a 15-point lead with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, behind the efforts of redshirt senior small forward DJ Rodman and an energized, three-point-shooting (!) Collier.
Suddenly, though, the Huskies mounted a rally thanks to some turnover issues for USC, shrinking the club's advantage to just four points on a 12-1 run in about three minutes. Washington sophomore reserve guard Koren JohnsonJohnson had a major second half.
Isaiah Collier was exciting and frustrating to watch in equal measure down the stretch. Collier regressed into some of his riskiest instincts, opting to hold the ball for long stretches, wave off teammates and just run iso ball sets inside. It did work out for a while. He did record a new career scoring high, but he also made dumb plays defensively, perhaps most dangerously when he hard-fouled Washington's top scorer, Keion Brooks Jr., while he was attempting a triple with 1:30 remaining. Brooks nailed all three of his foul looks, trimming the edge to just a possession, 76-73.
Then Collier went iso once again, snagging an easy layup. The Trojans' zone defense proved fairly ineffective against the Huskies, though, as senior Washington guard Sahvir Wheeler responded with an easy layup of his own. Collier pulled off another interior layup, effectively keeping the margin big enough to let the club hold on.
Collier finished with a career-best 31 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the field (3-of-5 shooting from long range), while taking no foul shots. He also had two assists, one steal, and a block. Fifth-year seniors Ellis and DJ Rodman finished with 17 points apiece, although Ellis had several more looks than Rodman (13 to Rodman's seven).
Zooming out bigger picture, though, the Trojans are still struggling. USC had won at least 20 games in each of the last four seasons under head coach Andy Enfield, a program record. Now, it'll be lucky to finish at 14-17 in the regular season, with a Pac-12 Tournament victory being its only practical route to a March Madness berth.
