For 20 sparkling first-half minutes, you could see USC basketball the way Andy Enfield envisions it, all pace and freneticism and dead-eye shooting, and sound-tracked by a booming Galen Center crowd. Squint hard enough, plus imagine a different color palate, and you can see the outline of how Enfield’s Florida Gulf Coast squad barnstormed its way to the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament, and what Pat Haden imagined this team could be when he hired Enfield to steer it.

But it was the gruesome second half of USC’s 83-73 loss to UCLA that served as the mile marker of its status quo, and a reminder that its seemingly bright future is still some distance away.

There are positives to take from this loss, a series of small moral victories that mean nothing in the win column but plenty to a program with all of one conference win to its name. Playing against a UCLA squad deep enough to bring a potential top-10 pick – freshman guard Zach LeVine – off the bench, the Trojans dictated the tempo in the first half with a roster of full of players the Bruins didn’t bother to recruit.

They needed Byron Wesley to deliver a titanic performance to have any chance of winning and he did just that early on, drilling 7-of-9 first-half attempts, including all four of his three-point attempts, to finish with 18 at the break.

But he needed help to build the Trojans’ 41-35 lead, and it came from JT Terrell, the enigmatic redshirt senior who, at least during that first period, played with a maturity and restraint that showcased his myriad talents. His eight points came on an efficient three-of-five shooting, but more impressive were a pair of deft assists early in the half, one to Pe’Shon Howard for a breakaway dunk and another soon after off a back door cut, in which he bounced it to Omar Oraby for another flush.

The offense – a scintillating 59 percent -- was as hot as the defense stifling, and the Trojans coasted into the break shooting a whopping 22 percent better than the Bruins, all built on a wave of early intensity that broke into a maelstrom. It was a decided shift from the teams’ first game at Pauley Pavilion in January, a 107-73 shellacking that saw the Trojans down 22 at halftime, one notable in attitude as much as results.

“We just came out and played hard,” said Wesley. “We were really timid those first five to seven minutes at Pauley. That was what we wanted to focus on going in. We came out, got some stops and got some baskets, and we were just playing as a team.”

But then came the second half, and with it the same post-break doldrums that doomed the Trojans in their last two losses, against Oregon and Oregon State. Suddenly, the errant Bruins became efficient, drilling 6-of-8 three-point attempts and ripping off a seismic 27-6 run in the initial 7:08 of the second half. They clamped down on Wesley, who took only two shots over that span, and forced Terrell out of rhythm, culminating in the Wake Forest transfer going 2-for-8 to close out the game along with a pair of turnovers.

“We didn't come out with the same sense of urgency we went into the half with,” Howard admitted. “We probably got a little too comfortable. That's happened the last few games and it's something we need to address, just staying locked in and focused the whole time.”

By the time the Trojans were able to right the ship over the game’s final 10 minutes, it was too late.

“I feel like we played really hard and just to have a lapse for five minutes in the second half really was the story of the game,” said Wesley. “Once we dug ourselves in that hole, it was hard to get out of it.

“Our key is not turning the ball over… When we turned the ball over, it was the end for us. We need to play hard for 40 minutes. We have stretches on defense where we take plays off.”

So it goes for the Trojans, a team that has begun transcend its modest talent but lacks the mental toughness needed to play above it enough to get results. That they hung in with the Bruins and top-ranked Arizona is an accomplishment given resources at hand, to say nothing of their thoroughly outplaying a Cal team that ranks in the conference’s upper echelon. Their head coach sees progress, equal parts tangible and tantalizing.

“I'm so impressed with this team, because the record doesn't indicate how hard they work,” Enfield said. “W e held UCLA to 40% from the field and the last five games that's right where we held teams. So we've improved on both ends of the ball, our scores are much more competitive and we had a chance to win every game since the Cal game. It's frustrating because I think they deserve to have more wins under their belt.”

That is the next step, one that could take anywhere from weeks to years. But it is at least in sight after an early conference stretch where the Trojans seemed a ways from belonging. Perhaps, soon enough, it might even be seen clearly. For now, though, in the wake of yet another crosstown rivalry loss, they’ll have to settle for shadows and outlines.

 

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