USC women’s basketball had to work really hard for a difficult 73-66 win over Indiana on Sunday. This was a road game, played at a bad body clock time (9 a.m. Pacific), in front of a roaring crowd, after a full-week layoff which did contribute to some USC rust. Indiana was also coming off a tough loss to Illinois, after which IU coach Teri Moren challenged her players to be better. This game figured to be a dogfight, and it was. Indiana led by four points early in the fourth quarter before USC responded down the stretch to remain unbeaten in Big Ten Conference play.
If you watched the game or if you merely checked a box score, you noticed something specific which rarely happens: USC’s bench got shut out. That’s right. USC’s bench did not score a point in this game. This bench has been instrumental in winning Big Ten basketball games. The bench was essential and central to the road win at Maryland a week and a half ago. It was therefore shocking to see USC’s bench get bageled against Indiana. Being able to overcome that is an encouraging sign for the Trojans, provided the bench gets back on the beam and performs well on Wednesday at Purdue, which it should.
It will be interesting to see how the USC women’s basketball bench and lineup rotations are changed, if at all, in the next few weeks.