No. 21-ranked USC had a chance to reset from a very winnable loss against No. 4-ranked Arizona and build some momentum against struggling Pacific on Tuesday night.
Or, at least, that was the plan.
But for much of the game Tuesday night, playing without standout forward Isaiah Mobley (nose fraction), nothing went as planned for the Trojans.
USC trailed by as many as 13 points early in the second half while trailing for much of the game before turning the tables late to escape with a 74-68 win in Galen Center that produced more relief than renewed confidence.
"We were tentative on offense. Couldn't make a shot, and we couldn't defend very well," coach Andy Enfield said. "The second half, we had to go to a zone after we got down 13, and I thought we did a much better job of protecting the lane and also guarding the three-point line."
Boogie Ellis led USC (20-4, 9-4 Pac-12) in scoring with 13 points and Drew Peterson and Chevez Goodwin added 12 points each, but the real spark came from little-used freshman Harrison Hornery, who pitched in 9 points and 7 rebounds in a breakout performance.
Through the entire first half and the start of the second half, the Trojans couldn't make an open jump shot or defend anyone.
It was clear that USC had the better team talent-wise, but Pacific -- just 7-16 overall and near the bottom of the West Coast Conference standings -- made it game thanks to its coaching.
The adjustments made by Enfield at halftime were a ultimately difference-maker in the game to ward off what would have been a demoralizing loss.
The shooting performance by Hornery fired up a USC team that was dead in the water.
Hornery, the freshman from local Mater Dei HS, had played sparingly in parts of just six games this season and didn't make an impact until the second half Tuesday night.
But what an impact he made the rest of the way ...
Once Hornery hit his third 3-pointer of the half, giving USC its first lead of the half at 53-51 with 8:01 remaining, the Tigers had to call a timeout, which allowed the USC bench to erupt. Finally, the Trojans had some momentum and that sparked a scoring outburst.
It was Hornery and fellow freshman Reese Dixon-Waters who got USC to that point, combining for all 17 of the team's points over the stretch leading to that lead change. Dixon-Waters finished with 9 points, including a perfect 6 of 6 from the foul line.
From there, Peterson and Ellis started to make their jump shots and the scoring was infectious.
When a player like Hornery, who had played only 16 minutes this season, comes out and scores at will against the team the starters can't do anything against, it woke up the rest of the squad.
When Hornery entered the game, he was confident, precisely what the team lacked in the first half. When asked what his plan was when he entered the game, he said, "Pretty much just my job. I knew I could come in and shoot the ball, and we needed it."
Hornery almost doubled his season minutes in this game and ended up with a team-high plus/minus of 15 while hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers. He had only 1 made 3 entering the night.
Ellis didn't make a field goal until the second half and had only 2 points on a pair of free throws in the first half. Again, once the team started to gain their confidence back, so did Ellis, draining both of the second-half 3-pointers he attempted to seal the deal.
The confident Peterson showed up in the second half, scoring 8 points on 3 of 5 from the field. He was critical of himself the last three games, especially his performance against Arizona, when he shot 1 of 13 from the field.
When asked about the team's hesitance to shoot the ball tonight, he said, "Yeah, I think it's natural, especially the last few games shooting. I was 1 for 13, something like that last [game], and I think I passed up a couple 3s that I shouldn't of, but I think guys got to know we trust them to make shots."
The Trojans will hope that trust and confidence carry over to a huge rivalry showdown with No. 12 UCLA on Saturday night at Galen Center.
