By the end of the first half, the only thing Danny Sprinkle’s Washington Huskies could hear were the boos from a half-full Alaska Airlines Arena. His team was thoroughly dismantled in the first half by the USC Trojans, taking a 51-25 deficit into the locker room following a buzzer-beating three-pointer, and somehow that was better than the way the first half played out.
The Trojans, led by former Washington guard Wesley Yates III, who never saw a single minute during his one season on Montlake due to an injury, and former Husky players and coaches Quincy Pondexter and Will Conroy, dominated the opening period.
They shot over 70 percent from the floor, anchored by 12 points from Yates and Desmond Claude, and it only got worse from there. Claude led all scorers with 20 points, and Yates finished with 19 as the Trojans refused to let up in the second half, cruising to an 85-61 victory.
“They came in and I thought they played terrific,” Sprinkle said after the game. “Credit to them, it seemed like they didn’t miss in those first 30 minutes of the game…even when we were defending with a ton of energy, they were making a ton of shots. We didn’t do a good job of guarding them one-on-one…and that kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
Mekhi Mason and Zoom Diallo were the only Huskies to finish in double-digits, mustering 15 and 10 points respectively, while four Trojans reached the marker. USC also finished the afternoon shooting 64 percent from the field, compared to Washington’s 39.3 percent.
Great Osobor’s struggles perfectly encapsulated the night for the Huskies, as he gave the ball away 4 times, while the Huskies suffered 14 turnovers on the day. The transfer went 4-11 from the floor and 1-4 from the free throw line, failing to garner any sort of momentum and looking somewhat out of sync, highlighted by a post-up play early in the first half where he completely lost track of how much time was on the shot clock.
He was unable to make up for his struggles from the floor in any other areas, pulling in just 3 rebounds and dishing out 2 assists on a night where everything seemed to go wrong.
“I’ve got to be better for sure,” Osobor said. “Teams are making a conscious effort of packing the paint and sending two or three bodies at me. I’ve got to just finish. It’s tough when there are three guys there, but I’ve got to be better. I’ll be better for the team.”
Guard DJ Davis, who was billed as one of the transfer portal’s top shooters upon his arrival continued his early struggles, going 1-7 from the floor and finishing with just 3 points before suffering an apparent ankle injury in the second half and was unable to return.
The loss pushes the Huskies to 6-3 on the season and 0-2 in conference play ahead of their matchup on Tuesday, December 10, against the Eastern Washington Eagles.