Drew Peterson nearly had the kind of final minute that would be replayed on NCAA tournament montages for years to come, but in the end he summed it up best.

"Too little too late," he said.

USC spent a majority of its NCAA tournament opener Friday trying to rally -- from a deficit that swelled as wide as 13 points late in the first half, from 12 turnovers before halftime alone (and 18 overall), and ultimately from a 7-point deficit in the final minute.

And the Trojans nearly did overcome all of that as Peterson scored 8 points in the span of 21 seconds, tying the game with 14 seconds on the clock, but Charlie Moore drew a foul on Ethan Anderson at the other end, hit two free throws with 3 seconds left and Peterson's final heave from just inside midcourt hit off the backboard and the rim, coming close to an all-time tournament moment.

Instead, it's those sloppy miscues and that late foul that the No. 7-seeded Trojans will have to think about as their season ended Friday with a 68-66 loss to No. 10 Miami at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.

"Obviously, I thought we could have made that comeback. I thought that shot had a chance, it was close, but it's unfortunate. Sometimes games end up like that, a late foul and we had to kind of chuck up a prayer there at the end," Peterson said. "... We all really thought we could make that second-half comeback."

The Trojans (26-8) were two different teams Friday. In the first half, they shot 29.6 percent from the field, managed just 4 assists and committed 12 turnovers. In the second half, they shot 69.6 percent and had 13 assists to 6 turnovers.

Coach Andy Enfield was seething in his sideline interview during the first half and then made a lineup change coming out of halftime, sitting starting guards Boogie Ellis (3 turnovers and 3 points in the first half, just 2 minutes played in the second) and Max Agbonkpolo (0 points, 3 TOs in the first half, just 3 minutes played in the second).

In their place came junior point guard Ethan Anderson and freshman Reese Dixon-Waters, who was playing through the pain from a lingering hip/groin injury but managed 14 second-half points, a block and an assist on 4-of-5 shooting while playing 19 of 20 minutes after halftime. He finished with 16 points for the game overall, while Anderson had 4 points, 4 assists and 0 turnovers after halftime.

"We weren't playing as well as we could have. It was a very poor half of offensive basketball with all the turnovers, and it was more of what we were doing ourselves vs. what the opponent was forcing us to do. So that's why we changed the starting lineup. We changed two guys out of the starting lineup to start the second half and I thought our flow was very good to start the second half offensively," Enfield said. "We made the right decision, we had a high assist total and ended up the game with 18 assists, scored 46 in the second half. So I think they did a great job of realizing how to attack and get good shots the whole second half."

Said Chevez Goodwin, the Trojans' senior center: "We just came out slow, a little timid at first. I guess just nerves and jitters, but you can't have that in March Madness. The second half we just knew that either we do it now or we just go out and get embarrassed and we didn't want to go out that way, so we just came out from the jump with a whole different mentality and energy."

USC opened the second half on a 17-2 run, sparked by a quick layup by Anderson, 8 points from Isaiah Mobley (who was scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting in the first half) and 7 points from Dixon-Waters, as the Trojans took a 37-33 lead.

Dixon-Waters was phenomenal while playing his second-most minutes of the season (28) and scoring a season-high. He confidently drained open 3s from the corner, while at other times choosing to pass up the shot and drive in strong to the rim. He had been a game-time decision through the week due to the hip/groin injury.

"The pain was definitely there, especially after my fall, but I feel like I needed to be there for the team and just play as best I can, as hard as I can," he said.

Said Enfield: "He showed me he's ready for the big-time. The spotlight was on and he stepped up and played great. He's been hurt, he hasn't practiced for over a week, and he hasn't played and he came in tonight on the biggest stage and he was ready. I'm very proud of him."

The rest of the second half was tight and back-and-forth, setting up a tense final couple of minutes.

The Trojans were down 1 when Dixon-Waters missed the front end of a one-and-one at the foul line and the ball caromed out of bounds with 2:08 remaining. Enfield was apoplectic when the refs gave possession to Miami, as the play had unfolded right in front of him.

Kameron McGusty drew a foul on a drive to the basket at the other end and hit both free throws to give Miami a 61-58 lead.

Peterson then missed a step-back 3-pointer near the end of the shot clock on a stagnant offensive possession for USC, McGusty hit a jumper on the other end to make it 63-58 and Peterson then misfired on another 3.

USC fouled Bensley Joseph, who made both free throws to push the Miami lead to 65-58 with 44 seconds left. It looked over at that point.

That Peterson was coming off those two misses made his final sequence all the more incredible.

He knocked down an open 3 and then helped USC trap Moore on the inbounds, causing him to step out of bounds. Peterson capitalized quickly with another confident 3 from the right wing to cut the deficit to 65-64 with 25.3 on the clock.

The Trojans immediately fouled Miami center Sam Waardenburg, who hit one of two foul shots, and Peterson promptly tied it with a slight hesitation move and drive to the hoop with 14 seconds on the clock.

On the other end, Goodwin would swat away Moore's drive and shot in the paint, but Anderson got whistled for the foul for contact on his lower body with 3 seconds on the clock, setting up the game-winning free throws.

Enfield was beyond frustrated by that point.

"I thought Drew got fouled on the possession before when he drove to tie the game. They hit his arm. So I guess if you going to call it at one end, you should call it on the other end. The call was made and unfortunately we were one possession short," Enfield said. "I did think the out of bounds call at 2:05 was the wrong call. They gave the ball to Miami, they hit it out off the free throw miss, it was a one-point game and it should have been our ball and they gave it back to Miami. It was the wrong call. So when you're talking about a one-possession game, one-point game it's very disappointing to lose like that. But they fought back and gave it their best shot."

He was asked if he got an explanation from the refs after they discussed that out of bounds call.

"I don't know what was in their gut or their head, but it was just the wrong call. It was very clear, everybody saw it and I don't know what they discussed or didn't discuss," he continued. "I don't know how you miss that call at a crucial part of the game in the NCAA tournament, but it went out on Waardenburg and it wasn't even close. That's it."

Peterson led USC with 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting, Dixon-Waters chipped in his 16, Mobley finished with 11 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds and Goodwin had 10 points and 6 boards. It was the last game for Goodwin, a sixth-year senior, was likely the last game for Mobley and could have been for Peterson as well, though he seems a likely candidate to return.

Isaiah Wong led Miami (24-10) with 22 points while Moore finished with 16.

"Playing with guys like Isaiah and Chevez, I've never played with a better group of guys," Peterson said. "They care so much about the team and obviously they get emotional at times, but they're two of the most passionate players I've played with, so it sucks for it to end early like this."

Both Peterson and Goodwin took the blame for the first half, as veteran leaders, for not getting the Trojans back on track quicker. In the end, like Peterson said, it was just too little, too late.

In the end, questionable calls aside, the Trojans had only themselves to blame.

"I feel like it was just on us. I don't think anything they did was anything crazy that we didn't know or was [not] expected. It's just on us with turnovers," Goodwin said. "We turned the ball over the last couple games before this, so it's something we had to fix as a team and we didn't fix it when we needed to."