The numbers would not have suggested a USC win on the road.
Not with 30-percent shooting, 8 turnovers to 14 assists, and just 3 points of 0-of-9 shooting from the field by the Trojans' bench. Not to mention an 8-point deficit midway through the second half.
And yet when Arizona State went cold from perimeter, USC whittled away at that Sun Devils' lead and the No. 19-ranked Trojans conjured up its best stretch of basketball over the final minutes to escape with an ugly yet significant 58-53 win in Tempe, Ariz.
"We're very fortunate to win this game. We've always said our defense has to carry us. If you score 58 points and you defend, you'll have a chance. However, we have to play better offense on Saturday [at No. 7 Arizona]," coach Andy Enfield said in his postgame radio interview.
Boogie Ellis scored 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting but with a long cold stretch sandwiched between a strong start and great finish. Isaiah Mobley was just 5 of 14 from the field for 12 points and 9 rebounds, but he too did his best work late. Drew Peterson hit only 1 of 6 shots, but he pulled down 13 rebounds including some pivotal ones down the stretch. And Chevez Goodwin had 9 points and 7 boards.
USC is now 19-3 overall and 9-3 in the Pac-12, remaining squarely in the conference race.
This game can either be viewed as a gritty road win in which the Trojans delivered when it mattered most, or another example of this once top-5 team not looking quite as smooth as it did earlier in the season while struggling against the 6-13 Sun Devils.
"Our guys showed a lot of heart. We didn't play our best on offense tonight. I thought our defense was outstanding, our zone was great. It's just a great road win. Anytime you win on the road in this league it doesn't matter, you just throw the records out in the league, especially a place like this," Enfield said. "Arizona State played extremely hard. They're hard to play with their small guards. We've got bigger guys -- they're quicker than us -- and then their interior players played outstanding. So this is a great way to get out of Tempe with a win and we'll move on tomorrow down to Tucson."
To be clear, Enfield didn't make excuses for his team because of the outcome. Quite the opposite.
USC overcame its habit of slow starts this time, jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the opening minutes (including two Ellis 3-pointers), but that came unraveled quickly.
The Trojans held a narrow 26-24 lead at halftime but would go down by 40-32 as forward Jalen Graham made yet another nice spin move down low to score with 11:16 left in the half.
It was later a 42-37 Sun Devils lead when USC tightened up its play for the final 7 minutes -- and Arizona State started clanking 3s.
Ellis chased down an offensive rebound in the corner and fed Mobley for a wide-open dunk to make it a 3-point game. After a missed 3 from DJ Horne -- ASU's ninth miss in the span of 10 shots -- Peterson made an athletic play to save an offensive rebound on the baseline, allowing Ellis to feed Max Agbonkpolo for a 3 from right side that tied it at 42-42.
The teams would also be tied at 44 and 46, while playing yet another tight tango in Tempe.
"Every year we come down here it's the same. We joke about it too, the last five or six years it's been a tie game with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute left in the game, or at least a 1-point or 2-point [difference] at the most," Enfield said.
Kimani Lawrence put Arizona State up 48-46 with 3:24 remaining on a hook shot in the paint, and Mobley had an air ball for a shot clock violation at the other end on a tough look.
But he came right back and stripped Luther Muhammad on the other end near the low block. That set up USC's best offensive possession of the game, as Ellis sent a smooth backdoor pass down low to Peterson, who kicked it out to Agbonkpolo in the corner, who swung it to Mobley just right of the top of the key for an open 3-pointer that put the Trojans up, 49-48, with 2:03 to play.
"That's great basketball," Enfield would say later, acknowledging that possession as an outlier overall.
Graham, who was excellent with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting, put ASU back ahead with a nifty spin and up-and-under against Joshua Morgan, drawing a foul and hitting the free throw for a 51-49 lead with 1:34 on the clock as USC called timeout.
But Mobley remained aggressive and asked for the ball down low on the ensuing possession. He spun inside and powered up through two defenders for a tough layup to tie it at 51-51 with about a minute to go.
After Graham finally missed in the paint, Jay Heath unintentionally fouled Ellis soon after the rebound. Ellis made both free throws to make it a 53-51 USC lead.
Horne then missed another 3 and Heath fouled Ellis again, unitentionally but blatantly. Ellis made one of two at the line this time to make it 54-51 with 33.4 on the clock.
The Sun Devils would get a score from Lawrence on a tough layup to cut it to 1, but ASU had no choice but to foul with the shot clock off at that point. Ellis went back to the line and knocked down two more foul shots.
And after Horne missed a floater for the hosts, Ellis ended up with the ball all alone on the other end for an emphatic two-handed dunk, swinging on the rim with 2 seconds left and the victory in hand.
"Our guys showed a lot of heart," Enfield said.
But again, he didn't spare the criticism.
"We weren't willing to pass the ball to the open man or make the extra pass. We had 3 assists at halftime, only ended up with 8, and our players have to do a better job," he said. "They have to pass the ball when people are open. We forced a lot of shots, we turned the ball over when we dribbled into traffic, and their game plan was to load the paint against us and reach and try to get deflections and they did a good job. Our best players didn't play well offensively tonight. ... But I am very proud of our execution the last 7-8 minutes of the game. ...
"When we needed it most, they shared the basketball and played great team offense. That was impressive. So it's in there. It's capable. We usually do a pretty good job of sharing the ball, but we have to do a better job on Saturday."
