Washington State does not make things easy for USC. Even when the Trojans beat the Cougars, it's a close fight to the finish. USC needed a last-second shot by Boogie Ellis 12 months ago against the Cougars. The Trojans won a very close game in Pullman in their 2021 Elite Eight season. In Thursday night's game against Washington State, the Trojans fell behind by 13 points in the first half. WSU forward Mouhamed Gueye scored the Cougars' first 11 points of the game and had 20 points and 7 rebounds in the first half alone.
USC big man Joshua Morgan got injured in the first half and had to leave the game. He did not return. So many things were going against the Trojans on a night when they frankly couldn't afford to lose. Yes, they played their way into the NCAA Tournament field with their win over UCLA, but they needed to build on that result. They couldn't give back their leverage - not right away.
Let's put it this way: An NCAA Tournament-quality team wins this game against Washington State.
Would USC be able to overcome all the negative developments which filled the first half?
The answer was as good as Andy Enfield could have hoped for.
With Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson once again hitting big shots, and with Vince Iwuchukwu blocking two shots on a late defensive stop which preserved a three-point lead, USC got the job done.
It wasn't easy - nothing with this team ever is - but it was profoundly important for this team's season. USC didn't play anything close to its best game, endured an injury to a frontcourt player (Morgan), and still prevailed.
This team can be - and needs to be - much better. Yet, that process of improvement won't happen all at once. It's a work in progress. USC just has to keep winning games while it learns how to play in these reworked lineups, with Vince Iwuchukwu gaining information and Josh Morgan now injured. Thursday's developments against Washington State will force others (Kijani Wright, Iaroslav Niagu) to play more minutes.
The UCLA and Arizona games get the headlines, but these games against the lower half of the Pac-12 will determine whether the Trojans make the NCAA Tournament.
One more down. Several more to go.
Entering February, the belief among bracketologists and Trojans Wired podcast hosts such as Ian Hest was that if USC won seven games from Feb. 2 (against Wazzu) through March 4 (the end of the Pac-12 regular season), it would be an NCAA Tournament lock.
If you buy that line of analysis, the Trojans are now six wins away.
List
Mapping out USC's path to the NCAA Tournament: must-win games, overall targets, and more
Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire
