No. 15 USC overcomes ugly start and rolls to dominant win over Arizona State

As the drought dragged into its seventh minute, disaster knocked at USC’s door.

Shots simply refused to fall. Errant passes flew inexplicably out of bounds. Turnovers piled up at an alarming clip. Any rhythm the Trojans had found on their two-game Rocky Mountain trip apparently had been lost upon the team landing in Los Angeles. The first crowd at Galen Center in more than a month could only look on in confusion at a team that had looked like one of the nation’s best the last time it played in front of home fans.

Nothing was working Monday night until freshman Reese Dixon-Waters caught a pass just behind the three-point arc, 13 minutes into one of USC’s worst starts in recent memory. The Trojans had lost nearly as many turnovers (eight) as they had scored points (10). They had missed 11 straight from the field over seven scoreless minutes, spotting Arizona State, one of the Pac-12 Conference’s worst teams, an early 12-point lead.

That’s when the wide-open freshman lifted up from long range and bid impending disaster adieu.

Dixon-Waters’ three-pointer was all it took to finally open the floodgates, and from there, there was nothing to stop the Trojans’ surge as USC rolled to an 78-56 victory over Arizona State that hardly looked assured through most of the first half.

A leaky offense was suddenly raging by the second, riding a wave of momentum that it found in those closing minutes of the first half. After opening three for 18, USC hit 20 of its next 28, flew past Arizona State and never looked back. It clamped down on defense and dominated the boards, finishing with a staggering 49-24 advantage on the glass.

For the second consecutive game, Drew Peterson led USC in scoring, following up a 23-point performance against Utah with 16 points against Arizona State. Chevez Goodwin, Isaiah Mobley and Max Agbonkpolo each added 12 points as USC came alive late.

Arizona State forward Jalen Graham, left, drives past USC forward Chevez Goodwin during the first half Monday.

(Alex Gallardo / Associated Press)

But until Dixon-Waters hit one 3-pointer, then another, and Mobley followed with one 3-pointer, then another, what eventually became a runaway victory seemed more likely to end in an inexplicable defeat. Instead, after seven scoreless minutes, it took just two to erase Arizona State’s lead for good.

For USC, it followed a pattern of less-than-stellar starts at home since their lengthy layoff through December, a pattern the Trojans hoped they’d kicked over the weekend with a sweep of Colorado and Utah.

Just four days earlier, USC’s season stood at an early crossroads in Colorado. After its undefeated start was interrupted by a COVID-19 pause, the Trojans lost two of four heading into a Rocky Mountain road trip that ended in a sweep each of the previous three seasons.

But USC snapped a six-game losing streak to Colorado and completed the sweep in Utah two days later, riding high as they returned home. Only for everything to fall flat at the start on Monday.

That slump, though, would only last roughly 13 minutes. Arizona State, playing without its suspended coach Bobby Hurley, would come apart, and USC would get rolling soon after, refusing to stop until a 12-point deficit had been transformed into a resounding 22-point victory and the home crowd, back after more than a month, had something to celebrate.