Basketball: USC flashes its potential in commanding 79-53 win over BYU

In its first game, the USC basketball team showed all of the rough edges one might expect from a largely refashioned roster coming together under the constraints of COVID, as it needed overtime to hold off an underdog Cal Baptist team. In Game 2, the Trojans started to find something but mostly leaned on a strong first 13 minutes or so to create the difference against Montana.

But on Tuesday, well, USC made something of an early-season statement.

Whether it proves sustainable and a harbinger of what's to come is yet to be seen, too early to conclude, but at the very least the Trojans showed their top-end potential in a dominant 79-53 win over BYU in the opening game of the Roman Legends Classic in Uncasville, Conn.

For a coach that prioritizes limiting the opponent and is often ready with the numbers to remind everyone where his team ranks nationally in field goal percentage defense, the Trojans (3-0) did Andy Enfield proud in this one while forcing BYU (3-1) into misses on 18 of its final 19 shots in the first half.

That's not a misprint, and it allowed USC to turn an 18-17 deficit into a 31-20 halftime lead, punctuated by a dunk from freshman phenom Evan Mobley to send the Trojans into the break with all the momentum.

USC then opened the second half on a 17-5 run and would go up by as many as 30 in the second half while never relenting.

"We're starting to get used to playing together," Enfield said. "The first game or two it was a trial by error and we had quite a few errors, especially at the defensive end. But today I thought we were locked in. We're shooting a pretty high percentage as a team so I think we're doing a good job of sharing the basketball and moving the ball. And today we just came out and beat a very good basketball team."

BYU had opened its season with three lopsided wins, but they were against Division II Westminster (Utah), New Orleans and Utah Valley. Nonetheless, the Cougars possess good size and came in averaging 13 3-pointers a game.

Size is not going to be a matchup concern for these Trojans, though. Brothers Evan and Isaiah Mobley played big inside all game, each securing double-doubles and generally disrupting BYU in the paint. Meanwhile, the Cougars shot just 7 of 30 from 3-point range and 28 percent (19 of 69) as a team overall.

"We played very hard, excellent defense, executed our game plan defensively -- not to perfection but pretty close to it," Enfield said. "We made them take tough shots and then rebounded the ball. ...

"I think defensively we're much better just in a week. I think we learned a lot from the first game, what it takes to win at this level. And look, we have a tough game Thursday against UConn so we can't pat ourselves on the back. But I think we have improved just in this week period with three games now. Defensively, I've seen a lot of improvement, and offensively we're very unselfish and our guys continue to share the basketball. If we can keep doing that, we'll be in most games."

While the defense earned top billing from Enfield, and understandably so, what has been especially encouraging through the opening games for USC has been its offensive balance and presence of multiple options capable of generating scoring. That didn't seem the case at lot of games last season.

Again, it's early -- too early to make any hardened conclusions -- but the offensive depth has been noteworthy so far and perhaps more than most anticipated.

Evan Mobley, the 5-star 7-foot freshman headliner, had 17 points (8-of-12 shooting), 11 rebounds and 2 blocks and was every bit the star the Trojans need him to be this year. And sophomore Isaiah Mobley had his best game yet with 11 points (on a much-better 5-of-8 shooting) and 11 rebounds.

But the newcomers coming to show up as well. Guard Drew Peterson, the transfer from Rice, scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting (3 of 4 on 3-pointers). Guard Tahj Eaddy, the transfer from Santa Clara, had his best game so far as a Trojan with 16 points (7-of-13 shooting, 2 of 4 on 3s) and 4 assists. And forward Chevez Goodwin, the transfer from Wofford, was again instant energy off the bench with 9 points (4-of-5 shooting) and 8 rebounds in 21 minutes.

"I feel like we have a lot of potential. Every single player on our team, the sky's the [limit], honestly," Evan Mobley said. "A lot of people don't know about them, but we have a lot of good players coming off the bench and starting so I feel like the sky's the limit."

As for his own game, Mobley plays with a palpable ease, confidence and smoothness to his game. Everything he does feels like it's happening seamlessly in the flow of action and never forced.

"I feel like coach put a lot of trust in me today, ran a lot of plays for me," he said. "I just tried to attack when I could and make plays off the dribble or in the post, impose my will."

Too often last season, the Trojans needed fellow 5-star freshman standout Onyeka Okongwu -- who was one-and-done to the NBA -- to impose his will on both ends of the offense bogged down. That hasn't been the case so far for this team, and if that can continue, there's reason to believe what USC showed Tuesday could have some carry-over effect for this team as the season continues.

But, yes, the defense certainly helps as well.

"We were ninth in the nation in field goal percentage defense last year, and we expect to be again competing for that type of level in the country. ... Today was a team effort," Enfield said. "Our guards did a tremendous job of forcing them into tough shots, and our big where there when they needed to be to challenge and create altered shots. Even if they didn't get the block, they at least challenged and altered."

Starting point guard Ethan Anderson played only 9 minutes, finishing scoreless. Enfield explained his usage was injury-related.

"Ethan had some back issues. He got injured in practice the other day and just didn't feel right, so we held him out," he said. "And Tahj Eaddy and Drew handled the ball very, very well and I thought our team played great basketball without Ethan. Ethan's such a big part of our team, so it was nice to see the rest of the guys step up and make plays for each other."

Indeed, one of the main concerns entering this season was how USC would perform at point guard when Anderson wasn't on the floor -- after having two guards transfer following last season. Eaddy and Peterson have proven plenty capable when called upon.

As Enfield mentioned, USC's second game in the tournament will come Thursday against UConn (2-0) at 4 p.m. PT on ESPN.