USC basketball buries Iowa for back-to-back big Big Ten wins

LOS ANGELES — He came hurtling down the lane with every bit of force in his 6-foot-7 frame, Iowa guard Josh Dix the only barrier left standing in Saint Thomas’ way. And Thomas did not dodge, nor duck, nor dip: he went through, finishing a second-half layup straight over Dix’s frame, the fiery USC forward sneering and flexing in his general direction after a layup dropped home.

And a referee’s whistle blew, issuing a technical foul.

Time stopped, suddenly. The good vibrations, inside this Galen Center, flattened. Thomas held hands up, mouth agape, the kind of unforced error that could have suddenly derailed an 18-point lead – that would have, a few weeks earlier, this USC program untested and inexperienced and fumbling away second halves against Cal and Oregon and Michigan.

But this was a different team, and a different Galen Center, more bodies slowly trickling in for the intrigue of a program that had just knocked off 13th-ranked Illinois on Saturday. After two Iowa free throws, Thomas picked up his defensive assignment full-court, clapping relentlessly. And fans in the lower basin of the arena clapped with him, unity for these upstart Trojans, as Coach Eric Musselman’s surprising squad proceeded to tuck Iowa away, 99-89.

Nothing could shake USC on a night when the Trojans shot a blistering 64.9% from the field. Not random referee-induced stoppages. Not the emotion of returning to their city decimated by fire after a week on the road, multiple staff members’ families having to evacuate. Not the swings in momentum from a hot-shooting Iowa squad that whittled USC’s lead in the final minutes. Not when these Trojans had hit the peak of their offensive execution, recording a remarkable 27 assists, a group of transfers clicking like never before.

Thomas was near-flawless, with nine rebounds, seven assists and 24 points on 8-of-9 shooting – and could have had two more, if not for Desmond Claude missing him wide-open in the paint with a couple minutes to go, the point guard hugging Thomas in gleeful apology. Claude continued an excellent stretch, himself, with a team-high 25 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and a slew of clutch second-half free throws.

Freshman Wesley Yates III, coming off of Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Boise State transfer sharpshooter Chibuzo Agbo Jr. added 18, big Rashaun Agee chipped in nine points and nine rebounds, and an upstart USC program improved to 11-6 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play.

USC’s Josh Cohen and assistant coach Will Conroy lifted their hands to the crowd in a call for more noise as the teams walked off the court at the halftime buzzer, the full vision of an Eric Musselman team coming to life in sheer dominance with a 48-32 lead. This program, a month after offensive possessions too often stalled out in empty dribbles, had become an offensive powerhouse, torching Iowa in shooting 61% from the floor. This program, a month after consistent defensive lapses, had held the Hawkeyes – entering Tuesday night as the second-highest-scoring team in the nation – to their second-lowest-scoring half of the year.

The key, simply, was Yates. Had been the key, for a month, since Musselman’s decision to trust him in USC’s starting lineup after Terrance Williams III’s injury. Through freshman growing pains, his quickness, floor-spacing and ballhandling spark has flat-out unlocked USC’s offense.

There was no more head-scratching shot selection, in this first half. No more turnovers that left Musselman smacking the scorer’s table. Yates was a technician in the pick-and-roll, dumping off pocket passes to big men for four assists, pulling up in the midrange for calculated buckets. A beautiful thread-the-needle pocket pass to big Rashaun Agee gave USC an 11-point lead with a few minutes before the break; two minutes later and Yates had buried two more 3-pointers without hesitation, running back down the floor and flexing in glee.

Iowa (12-5, 3-3) refused to go away, with an army of snipers igniting their rifles in the second half. With 6:25 to go, top scorer Payton Sandfort buried a corner 3-pointer to cut USC’s lead to single digits. But even as USC’s lead slipped to 85-80 with 4:35 left, Claude and Thomas put Iowa away, combining for 13 of USC’s last 14 points as the Trojans walked away rolling.

More to come on this story.