For those who have paid attention to the first part of USC's basketball season, a logical conclusion to draw has been that the Trojans might want to eventually start running the offense through star freshman big man Onyeka Okongwu.

That hasn't seemed to be the approach enough to this point, but it sure was in the second half Sunday.

Okongwu scored 16 of USC's first 17 points after halftime -- mixing in a dunk, layups off nice assists, a follow-up to his own miss, free throws, etc. -- while spurring the Trojans to a 87-76 over Long Beach State inside the Galen Center.

Okongwu was just 2 of 5 from the field for 4 points in the first half before becoming the clear focal point for USC (9-2) and going on to finish with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

"The first half took me a while to get going, and the second half I just came out and wanted to do more for my team, be more of an impact," Okongwu said.

He did and he was.

The freshman fan favorite scored the first points of the second half, but Long Beach State (3-8) followed with a layup and free throw to cut USC's lead to 42-37. When Okongwu followed with another score and Nick Rakocevic made a free throw, the visitors answered with another layup on the other end to keep it close at 45-39.

That's when "Big O" truly took over.

The smooth-operating 6-foot-9 forward scored on the next five USC possessions, and eventually Long Beach State simply couldn't keep pace.

His layup on a nice feed from freshman point guard Ethan Anderson pushed the lead to 49-42, his fastbreak finish off an Elijah Weaver steal and assist made it 51-42, his score off his own offensive rebound and ensuing free throw offset a Long Beach State 3, and another feed from Anderson as Okongwu rolled in from the top of the key for an easy layup and subsequent free throw made it 57-45 a little more than 5 minutes into the second half.

"We told him to dominate the paint, stay down -- that was the open area against their matchup zone, the 1-3-1, the back of the zone was open," coach Andy Enfield said. "He stayed there and our guards got him the ball, and he got one or two offensive rebounds. He played great in the second half."

Okongwu kept dominating the rest of the half as the Trojans kept pace on the way to closing out the win.

Okongwu came into the day averaging team-bests with 17.4 points and 8.7 rebounds, so it's not like he hasn't been a major part of things to this point. But there have seemed too many lulls through the first part of the season where the ball wasn't running through his hands.

The second half Sunday was a glimpse at what is probably the best formula for this team moving forward. Because Okongwu is such a skilled rebounder, he will always find his way into easy scoring opportunities, but having the Trojans ball-handlers and playmakers seemingly making it a priority to set up him after halftime was a welcomed sight.

But Enfield said it's not that easy.

"We win and lose as a team. He played within himself the whole game. You just can't come down and say, 'We're going to get the ball to Onyeka' or Jonah or Nick, whoever else," Enfield said. "Defenses scout you, they make adjustments, so you can't just come down the floor and throw the ball and get someone a layup every time you want. It's not that easy. We just had to play as a basketball team, and I thought we did a good job offensively in the second half. …

"He only had 4 points at halftime, we thought we needed to get him the ball a little more, but once again if they're taking something away defensively you just can't force things. You've got to play a team game, and once our guards started making shots, started penetrating, we opened the floor up and he was able to get one-on-one situations in the post and at the rim."

This marked Okongwu's second-highest-scoring game of the season and his fifth 20-point game overall.

Senior guard Jonah Mathews added 18 points (including 5-of-9 from 3-point range), freshman Isaiah Mobley had 11 points and 9 rebounds, Rakocevic added 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals, Anderson dished out 12 assists with only 2 turnovers and grad transfer Daniel Utomi added 9 points on 3 3-pointers.

Mathews' 5 3s were a season high and he's now 9 of 16 from long distance over the last two games.

"History shows freshman year to now that I always start off slow. I don't shoot well the first couple games, and it'll take one game for me to lock in and feel the flow again," he said.

Meanwhile, Anderson, the freshman point guard, has dazzled with his playmaking this season, impressing both his coach and teammates.

"He sees things as they're happening and sometimes before they happen," Enfield said. "He anticipates where players are moving. He's got a lot of Jordan McLaughlin in him, how he reads the offense and defense and he got our big guys the ball."

Said Mathews: "Just the poise he has as a freshman coming in, he's never rattled. He just sees the court differently than I've seen in a while, hits me wherever I need it, he hit a pass to Daniel on the baseline that was like a Clayton Kershaw pitch pass. I was like, 'OK, yeah.' Playing with him is just different."

It came out Friday that USC received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA regarding the prolonged investigation involving former Trojans assistant coach Tony Bland. Enfield was asked about it Sunday and expectedly had little to say.

"That's a two-year investigation so I really can't comment on that. There's no new news. This has all been played out in the media," he said. "Now, we would like a quick resolution to the NCAA, but we've cooperated for two years in this case so there's nothing new going on. But we're hopeful for a quick resolution, and we've done our part as a university and basketball program to do our best to comply and help out with everything."

He was then asked if he has been given any timeline for such a resolution.

"Because it's an ongoing with that, I really can't say anything. First of all, I don't know anything, and secondly I really can't say anything," he said.