Trojans defeat Texas San Antonio not long after learning point guard Rodney Rice would miss the rest of the season.
Through a near-perfect nonconference slate, no matter what was thrown USC’s way, whether injuries or other unforeseen circumstances, the Trojans had never lacked for life on the court. It was that endless energy that had helped power them to a 10-1 start.
But for a while Wednesday, that vigor was conspicuously absent against Texas San Antonio, a team that lost four of its last five. Maybe it was the setting, in a mostly empty and eerily quiet Galen Center. Maybe it was the bad news from earlier in the day, as USC announced that point guard Rodney Rice would undergo shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season.
Whatever it was, USC was eventually able to shake it off Wednesday night, turning a deficit late in the first half to a convincing, 97-70 victory over San Antonio in the second.
What looked at first like a lifeless undertaking turned into an aerial display after halftime, as USC knocked down 61% of its shots and threw up one alley-oop after another.
It would take some time, though, for the Trojans to wake up. With 3:38 remaining in the first half, they were still trailing the 4-6 Roadrunners, who in their last two had lost to Alabama by 42 and Colorado by 24.
But when the Trojans finally turned it on, in the final minutes of the first half, there was no stopping the onslaught. USC finished the first half on a 13-0 run and took control from there.
It did so in the same fashion it had in pretty much every game since Rice went down, by leaning on Chad Baker-Mazara and Ezra Ausar.
Baker-Mazara had just three points before halftime, before exploding for 17 more in the second half, while Ausar was USC’s most consistent player throughout, finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
Both will be even more critical come next month, as the Trojans embark on a brutal Big Ten slate that includes three top-10 opponents over the first two weeks and change. That they’ll have to weather that stretch without Rice, who they briefly hoped would return sometime in January, only complicates matters.
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USC is actually planning to add reinforcements at point guard later this week. But replacing Rice, who was averaging 20 points per game before his injury, won’t be as simple as just plugging in a midseason addition from the transfer portal.
The Trojans did get a stellar showing Wednesday from guard Ryan Cornish, who shot 60% and scored 18 points. He hadn’t scored more than five in a game this season.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Category: General Sports
