Arizona 83, USC 76

Very tough loss in Tucson last night for the Trojans. They got off to a terrible start and were down 18 at one point, but battled back and almost came away with the win. The run going into the half was impressive and the Trojans played extremely well offensively in the second half. Unfortunately, Arizona hit too many shots early and got too many open looks down the stretch as well. Give credit to Nic Wise and Chase Budinger, who both had terrific shooting nights, but the Trojans defense still left much to be desired. Arizona is too good a team to be given multiple open looks on the perimeter. Dwight Lewis was on fire with the three ball in the second half and DeMar DeRozan kept the Trojans in it early. Daniel Hackett also was as aggressive as I've seen him, but again missed a pivotal free throw in the last minute. Teams are really focusing in on Taj Gibson and doubling him down low every time, so it was nice to see the other three big players for the Trojans step up.

Tim Floyd did a better job with the offense in this game, but made one critical mistake down the stretch in my opinion. With the Trojans down three with 30 seconds left, they came out of a timeout and Dwight Lewis shot a contested fade away three with Jordan Hill in his face. It was terrible shot selection by Lewis, but it was also a mistake by Floyd not to try for the quick two. There was plenty of time left, so you have get a high percentage shot in that situation. Very bad call.

The missed free throw by Hackett was absolutely huge. With the Trojans down two, Daniel made an acrobatic shot to tie it up. Then, there was a timeout and Hackett stepped up to the line and missed another clutch free throw. It led to another transition opportunity for Arizona and Nic Wise capitalized by draining the decisive three. If Hackett hits the free throw, the Wildcats would have had to take the ball out of bounds and set up a half-court set, something they weren't able to do all night.

The Trojans transition defense was dreadful last night. Arizona did execute well, but USC was lazy getting back and it led to countless open threes and layups for the Wildcats. USC was on their heels and didn't close out on the perimeter shooters. It was as bad as you can get as far as perimeter defense. In the half court, the Trojans D actually looked fairly good. They didn't let Jordan Hill catch the ball deep in the post, and they did a good job cutting off Wise's penetration. It was the transition game that killed USC.

After the game, I told a friend that I was impressed with how we played last night for the most part, especially offensively. He told me, "Yeah, but we can't keep having good losses. It's crunch time. We need to win." He is absolutely right. The game at ASU is a near must win for USC. I've said all along that I believe 20 wins will get USC into the NCAA Tournament, and I still believe that. That means that the Trojans must win their four remaining home games and one of their three road games. 11 Pac-10 wins should get the Trojans in the Tourney, but 12 will likely seal the deal. That means the Trojans must take care of business at home, beat ASU on Sunday, and win one in the Bay Area. That doesn't seem too improbable. Neither does a sweep in the Bay Area (neither team looks very impressive to me). So, it will likely be either 11, 12, or 13 Pac-10 wins for the Trojans. I think any of those three numbers will get USC in, but 12 will make it a lock. The Trojans need to win some games, starting Sunday.