The close ones have the worst aftertaste. For the Oregon Ducks, it's a too-close road win. For the USC Trojans men's basketball squad, it was a high jump of a performance deserving of a signature win, yet fell just short of clearing the bar. After standing toe-to-toe the entire game with one of the nation's hottest squads, USC (7-11, 2-3 in the Pac-12) missed four shots on their final possession, including three from within ten feet, to fall 76-74 to the No. 21 Oregon Ducks (15-2, 4-0).

In front of an invested and energetic Galen Center crowd of 4,711 fueled by students back from winter break, the Trojans gave the Ducks all they had. The Trojans trailed the entire second half, and when E.J. Singler hit a corner three to put the Ducks up 75-65 with 2:59 left, it seemed like the spirited Trojans wouldn't be able to keep up for the entire 40 minutes. Wrong. 

A pair of jumpers, one from distance, from senior forward Eric Wise fueled a 9-0 USC run to cut the lead to 75-74 with 34.3 seconds remaining. Oregon's Dominic Artis made one of two free throws, and suddenly USC could win the game with a three, and tie it with a regular shot. It was not to be. Senior point guard Jio Fontan missed a three-point shot from the wing, and junior forward Dewayne Dedmon and Eric Wise's frenetic tip shots on the boards wouldn't fall in the basket. Oregon rebounded with two seconds left, and purposely missed their free throw to promptly run out the clock.

The main pariah on USC's squad, junior shooting guard J.T. Terrell showed the pure shooting ability that makes him this squad's most lethal scorer. The Trojans shot just 5-for-18 to begin the game, but Terrell had 10 of the team's first 15 points. He finished with a season-high 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. Eric Wise had 17 points to go along with a USC-high six rebounds, while Singler had 14 points, seven assists, and six rebounds and Arsalan Kazemi had six points and 11 rebounds to lead the visiting Ducks. 

A loss will never sit pretty in the locker room, but this one didn't have the bitter taste of an unsuccessful grinding style or a stale offensive effort so often incurred under former coach Kevin O'Neill, who was fired on Monday. Instead, the Trojans were dominated on the boards (38-25) and sometimes struggled to keep up the Ducks' torrid pace on offense. The Ducks found more open threes than contested ones, and the savvy E.J. Singler made more hustle plays than the entire Trojans squad. Yet, the results don't lie. Against a squad Trojans' interim head coach Bob Cantu said afterwards that "I really wouldn't be surprised if they won this league," the Trojans lost by a single basket.

There were signs of the old, sloppy Trojans early. Jio Fontan throwing a pass over Eric Wise's head on the Trojans' first possession. J.T. Terrell taking a contested three with twenty seconds left on the shot clock, the kind of take that found him riding the pine a few games ago. 

Yet, these Trojans showed something they rarely did under O'Neill: in-game improvement. "We didn't give in. We kept defending, we kept pushing, we got ourself back in the game and got our chances," Cantu said.

In his first week of leading this team, Cantu repeatedly said that he wanted to push the Trojans up and down the floor with vigor. The Ducks' constant switching from man-to-man to zone defense made life stressful for the man in just his second career game as a head coach, yet the Trojans found baskets at a reliable rate. Oregon's physicality was unkind to the Trojan big men, but the Trojans played help defense and locked down on the ball (except on three-pointers, that was ugly).

The Trojans played motivated ball for their new coach, but they've also raised the bar. A loss to Oregon State on Saturday will come with precious little sympathy and acceptance for these players and a coach that could turn these last 13 games into a full-time gig. 

"I'm just really happy that the guys played hard all the way to the end. They didn't give in. It would have been easy to give in when they had taken it up 9, 8, 10, whatever it was," Cantu said. These Trojans can play miles ahead of what their record indicates, but from this point on there are no moral losses. Reaching the NCAA tournament is a pipe dream at this point, but these 13 games will pave the career paths for every player on this squad looking to make a name for themselves. Welcome to the proving grounds, young Trojans.

Read more of Neon Tommy's USC Basketball coverage here.

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