TrojanNYC.com

USC Beats ASU to Win Pac-10 Tournament; Next Stop the NCAA Tourney

The team showed a lot of heart yesterday.  In the first half, SC struggled to penetrate through ASU's match-up 2-3 zone; it was even worse defensively as Derek Glasser and James Harden played the pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop with Jeff Pendergraph to perfection.  At the end of the half, SC was down by 15 with all the momentum on ASU's side.

To start the 2nd half, Tim Floyd bet the house by applying a full-court press and it paid off big. ASU simply wasn't ready for the aggressive press and after a few steals and big shots by Demar DeRozan, the momentum swung back to SC. The game was tight down to the final minute with the teams trading one big basket after another.  In the final minute, SC's pressure proved to be too much; Dwight Lewis hit a big open 3 and Daniel Hackett followed with 2 clutch free throws to take their first lead of the game.

With ASU down 1, out of a time-out Harden and Pendergraph tried to use the pick-and-roll once again, but Floyd called for a defensive switch with Taj defending Harden and Hackett on Pendergraph; Harden took the bait and tried to take Taj off the dribble, but Taj proved why he was named Defensive POY in the Pac-10 and made a huge clutch block. After Taj hit a free-throw to put SC up by 2, ASU had one more chance to tie or take the lead but failed with Harden missing a 3, giving SC its first-ever Pac-10 title.  Great inspired win.

USC Basketball '07-'08 Players Review - PG

Here's my review of the team this past season and what to look ahead for next season:

Daniel Hackett:  B

Season Review - Daniel had an up and down season, which might make some people question his "B" grade, but how can you ignore the heart he showed battling through all the injuries this season?  To recap, he fought back from a broken jaw early in the season and a stress fracture in his lower back late in the season.  What was frustrating about all the setbacks was that Daniel was poised to have a breakout year.  He had an excellent summer playing for the Italian National Team and in his 2nd game back posted a triple-double against South Carolina.  It looked like Daniel was set to break-out, but instead he went through ups and downs and struggled to maintain consistency.  He ended the season on a bad note, struggling against KSU's defensive pressure. 

Future - Daniel's future will hinge on whether SC can finally get a true PG since the passing of Ryan Francis.  The truth is, Daniel is a swingman playing the 1.  Even though he's done an admirable job thus far, as long as he's counted on bring the ball up court, he will remain inconsistent and have a limited impact offensively.

Angelo Johnson:  C+

Season Review - Angelo got off to a great start in the season opener against Mercer showing nice quickness in penetration and rolling effectively off high screens, but most impressive of all was his assertiveness and confidence.  Unfortunately, Angelo's progression never seemed to take off from that point.  He never seemed truly comfortable as the court general.  He often struggled getting the offense into their sets and reaching certain points on the floor against aggressive guards.  There were too many times where Angelo would pick up his dribble prematurely leading to dicey plays/turnovers or push too aggressively on the break.  Defensively, he struggled against quick guards like Darren Collison, Nic Wise, Tajuan Porter, etc.  Of course, all was not bad, Angelo did a great job hitting open 3's and had some solid performances in some select games, but overall his performance was very much indicative of a freshman. 

Future - Next season will be Angelo's make-or-break year as the starting guard for the Trojans.  Incoming PG, Donte Smith, a JUCO transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, will push Angelo for the starting PG spot right away, meaning AJ will have to play with confidence and assert himself early.

Incoming: 

Donte Smith - Mt. San Antonio College (JUCO)

Donte was one of the top JUCO point guards before he committed to SC and looks to be an impact player right away.  His build and style of play reminds me of Chris Paul.  He's listed at 6'0 180lb on recruiting sites, which is almost identical to CP3; he also plays with the same calm pace and can shoot well off the dribble.  Obviously Donte is nowhere near CP3 in terms of talent, but he is the closest example I can think of to paint a picture visually. 

Coming from the JUCO ranks, the transition to Pac-10 basketball should be shorter than that of a HS senior, so look for him to push Angelo early for the starting PG spot.

Basketball Team Awards Winners

From WeAreSC.com:

Sam Barry Award MVP
O.J. Mayo (20.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 40.9 3-pt%, 684 points, 88 three-pointers)

Joe Barbato Award Top FT Percentage
Daniel Hackett (82.3 percent, 8.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.2 apg)

Dr. James Zumberge Award Top GPA
Keith Wilkinson (3.0, Communications, Journalism & Related Studies)

John Rudometkin Award 110% Effort
Taj Gibson (58.0 FG%, 10.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 88 blocks)

Tom Kimmel Award Top 6th Man
Angelo Johnson

Ernie Holbrook Award Most Inspirational
Daniel Hackett (8.6 ppg, 94 assists, 82.3 FT %, 34 steals)

Coaches Award
Dwight Lewis (10.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 31 3-pointers, 24 steals)

Top Rebounder Award
Taj Gibson (7.8 rpg, 259 total)

Reportedly Taj announced he would be coming back next season.  Also hear that word got out regarding Davon also coming back.  Take those reports with a BIG grain of salt, especially the latter one.  Congrats to the winners.

Rivals.com - Kansas State Breakdown

From Rivals.com:

BACKCOURT: Most of Kansas State's experience lies in the backcourt with Stewart and Young. Those seniors play complementary roles, though, to the Wildcats' star freshmen in the frontcourt. Pullen gets lost with the other freshmen on the team, but he showed his potential for the future by finishing third on the team in scoring.

FRONTCOURT: What can be said of Beasley that hasn't been said already? He may be the best player in the nation and probably will be the No. 1 overall pick. He can do everything from rebound to overpower defenders to shoot the 3-pointer. Walker can sometimes let his emotions get the best of him, but when he's composed, he is a quick and athletic scorer.

X-FACTOR: The Wildcats were a different team on the road than they were at home, going 3-5 away from Manhattan in Big 12 play. They'll have to learn how to deal with adversity away from home if they are to have any chance of making a run.

THE BUZZ: Beasley is one of the best players in the country, but his supporting cast is among the most volatile. Beasley could carry the team deep in the tournament or the Wildcats could lose in the first round.

I'd like to see us put someone like Hackett (or lesser degree Lewis) on Beasley, even though it looks like Daniel will be on Bill Walker, and provide help defense if Beasley tries to take it inside.  Daniel can stay with Beasley off the dribble, meaning he won't get into foul trouble, and is smart enough to put a body on him every time the ball goes up.  I think with Davon, you run the risk of getting into foul trouble early and being short-manned for a large chunk of the game.  Going smaller and taking away Beasley's ability to drive forces him to shoot outside or kick out to a backcourt that isn't used to carrying the scoring load.  More importantly, it keeps Michael away from tipping in baskets, getting put-backs off offensive rebounds, and drawing fouls, which he is all excellent at doing.  As long as we keep KSU off the offensive boards and force their backcourt to step up offensively, we should be in good shape.

Final: USC 70, Arizona 58

From ESPN.com:

O.J. Mayo scored 20 points and USC withstood an Arizona comeback to hand the Wildcats their fifth home loss of the season, 70-58, on Thursday night.

In a matchup of two of the game's best freshmen, Mayo got the better of Arizona's Jerryd Bayless, who matched his season low of eight points, 13 below his season average. The Wildcats' other top scorer, Chase Budinger, scored only seven points.

Davon Jefferson had 15 points and 14 rebounds and 14 rebounds for the Trojans (18-9, 9-6 Pac-10), who never trailed and led by as many as 16 in the first half. Taj Gibson added 14 points and Dwight Lewis 11.

Great game from the team last night.  As I've been saying for about a month now, I believe a .500 conference record will secure a bid to the NCAA tournament, so with tonight's victory I think we shake off the "bubble" tag and can now be considered a lock.  From here on out, we'll be playing for seeding, and I think we're in the 7-10 range at the moment.

Nearly every player stepped up tonight and I thought it was our best game of the year.  We executed to near perfection and really suffocated defensively.  I have to give a lot of credit to Daniel, who played a great game and really provided some valuable minutes.  Apart from his miss under the basket and his defense against Bayless on the break, you would have never guessed that he has a stress fracture in his lower back and partially torn oblique muscles.  Just a great game overall from the team. 

Hackett Out With Stress Fracture

From LATimes.com:

USC sophomore point guard Daniel Hackett was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back Monday night and will be sidelined indefinitely, according to a statement released by the school.

Hackett will not require surgery for the condition but must complete a core-strengthening program to alleviate the back spasms that have plagued him since he bruised his right pelvis during a fall Jan. 31 against Arizona.

A timetable for Hackett's return will be determined once his spasms subside and his core strength level is evaluated.

Before he was examined by Dr. Robert G. Watkins at the Marina Spine Center in Marina del Rey on Monday night, Hackett had expressed optimism that his condition was not serious.

"I'm not worried," Hackett said. "We'll see what the X-rays say and then we'll go from there."

What a huge blow.  When the news report first came out it seemed like Daniel would be out for the season, but it's encouraging to read the optimistic comments from Dr. Watkins.  Thinking back to how well Daniel played in the NCAA tournament last year, having him in the line-up could be the difference between a 2nd round boot and being an Elite 8 team. 

Daniel Hackett Might Play Saturday

From LATimes.com:

USC sophomore guard Daniel Hackett was diagnosed today with a right hip pointer and could play Saturday against Arizona State, a school spokesman said.

X-rays on the hip were negative and Hackett's status will be a game-time decision.

Big news!  I honestly thought it would be worse...

Final: USC 69, Arizona 80

From ESPN.com:

Chase Budinger had 29 points and eight rebounds to lead Arizona to an 80-69 victory over USC Thursday night in a crucial Pacific-10 Conference game.

Budinger scored 18 points in the second half and made 11 of 20 field goals, including 4 of 7 from the perimeter for the Wildcats (15-6, 5-3).

OJ Mayo scored 23 points, Davon Jefferson had 19 points and Taj Gibson added 17 for the Trojans (13-7, 4-4). Starting guard Daniel Hackett suffered a bruised hip early in the first half after diving for a loose ball and did not return.

I got to the game after Hackett went down, so I kept wondering why Daniel wasn't in the game.  This game felt like the Wazzu loss to me with one of our key players not playing and SC not being able to stop Arizona's offense late in the game.  Just have to move forward and prep for a tough ASU team.  We're still .500 in the conference so no reason to panic. 

Daniel Hackett Named Sporting News National Player of the Week

From USCTrojans.com:

USC sophomore guard Daniel Hackett, who missed six weeks with a broken jaw and returned to practice full-time on Nov. 12, was named The Sporting News National Player of the Week as he helped lead the Trojans to two road wins while averaging 21.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds for the week of Nov. 12-18.

In USC's 74-47 win at the Citadel on Nov. 15, Hackett's first game back, he scored a career-high 21 points, hitting nine of 12 shots. He followed that up with new career highs in points (22), rebounds (10) and assists (10) in the 85-75 win at South Carolina on Nov. 17. Hackett's triple-double was the first by a Trojan in at least 30 seasons. He also did not have a turnover in the victory at South Carolina.

Congrats to Daniel for his spectacular play. 

USC vs. South Carolina Review

Final Score:  USC 85, South Carolina 75
Current Record:  2-1
Next Up:  San Diego (Anaheim Classic) - 11/23

Once again, the game wasn't televised in CA so I'm basing this review off reports/stats:

Positives

• What a road trip for Daniel Hackett!  He finished tonight's game with 22 points on 6 of 9 shooting, grabbed 10 boards, and dished out 10 assists for a triple-double.

• After 3 games, O.J. is averaging 24 pts, 7 reb, 4.5 assists, and 2 steals per game; he's also shooting 83% from the free-throw line.

• Both teams went with small line-ups and decided to play a perimeter game and the stats overall were pretty dead-even, but the difference in the game was our teamwork and shooting.  South Carolina only had 8 assists compared to our 20 and shot 37.7% from the field to our 48.3%.  The team accomplished this on the road in front of a hostile near sell-out crowd, you have to tip your hat to the grit of this team.

Negatives

• Kasey Cunningham left the game early with an injury.  Let's hope he didn't reinjure his knee. 

• Taj Gibson continues to struggle and no one has stepped up as a consistent starter down low.  A lot of us expected Davon to be far ahead of where he's at right now and some thought Wilkinson might be able to fill the void after his impressive showing in the intrasquad game, but we're 3 games in and still lack a true post player to help Taj.  Luckily we haven't played a team with a dominant PF/C yet, but someone is going to have to step up real soon since the Pac-10 is filled with talented big men. 

The team will play in the Anaheim Classic this week starting with the University of San Diego on Thursday.  Here's the info if you're interested in attending the game.