Turnovers...turnovers...turnovers.
USC turned the ball over 22 times, including 12 times in the second half when the Oregon Ducks began applying full-court pressure that rattled the Trojans.
Houston transfer Joseph Young led Oregon (15-6, 3-6) to a 78-66 win Saturday evening at the Matthew Knight Arena. Young scored 21 points and grabbed 6 of the Ducks' 16 steals.
The Trojans (10-12, 1-8) came out strong in the first half, holding a 38-34 lead at the break. USC out shot Oregon 50 percent to 38 percent. The turnovers killed the Trojans as they gave the ball away 10 times in the first 20 minutes, allowing the Ducks to stay close.
Omar Oraby scored on USC's initial second-half possession, but the Trojans were outscored 22-4 over the next nine and a half minutes as they couldn't handle Oregon's full-court trap.
How do you go from being up by six points to down by 12? Here is a listing of their possessions during that stretch:
- Nikola Jovanovic turnover.
- Nikola Jovanovic turnover.
- Nikola Jovanovic made jumper.
- Pe'Shon Howard turnover.
- J.T. Terrell turnover.
- Pe'Shon Howard missed jumper.
- Pe'Shon Howard turnover.
- Omar Oraby missed layup.
- Julian Jacobs made layup.
- Julian Jacobs missed layup.
- Byron Wesley turnover.
- Byron Wesley missed 3-pointer.
- Julian Jacobs missed layup.
- Nikola Jovanovic turnover.
- J.T. Terrell missed jumper.
- Pe'Shon Howard turnover.
- Omar Oraby missed layup.
- J.T. Terrell missed 3-pointer.
That's 18 possessions with eight turnovers, four missed layups and only two made baskets.
The Ducks built the lead up to 17 points before USC made an 8-0 run to trim the lead back to single digits with 3:48 remaining. Detroit transfer Jason Calliste drained a 3-pointer to end the Trojans run and the Ducks cruised the rest of the way to the 12-point win.
The woeful second half put a damper on Byron Wesley's 19-point night that saw him become the 35th member of USC basketball's 1,000-point club. J.T. Terrell finished with 15 points after scoring 11 in the first half. Pe'Shon Howard had eight points in the first half, but did not score after the break and finished the game with seven of the Trojans' turnovers.
Calliste finished with 18 points and 5 rebounds while Mike Moser, who transferred from UCLA to UNLV and then to Oregon, had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals after he had been held scoreless on Thursday against UCLA.
USC has a week off to salt its wounds before it hosts the rival Bruins next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PST in a day-night doubleheader with the USC/UCLA women's basketball teams.