USC men's basketball overcomes 15-point deficit to beat Colorado

USC’s perfect home record was in jeopardy Wednesday night as Colorado led by 15 points with nine minutes left.

But the Trojans emerged from their funk and relied on guards Jordan McLaughlin and Julian Jacobs to lead a scoring spree that saw USC defeat Colorado, 79-72, before 5,132 at the Galen Center.

USC outscored Colorado, 34-12, the final nine minutes and improved its home record to 15-0, the best start in school history.

“I think we just fear losing,” Jacobs said. “It’s an awful feeling. The next day at practice is depressing. We didn’t want to go through that.”

USC coaches and players labeled the game a “must-win” despite the fact USC has five more conference games and the Pacific-12 Touament.

“We’re fighting to get into the NCAA Touament,” USC assistant coach Tony Bland said.

But the Trojans are currently safely among the teams projected for the NCAA Touament. USC is currently a No. 7 seed in ESPN expert Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Touament bracket. The Trojans are a No. 6 seed in CBS Sports’ guru Jerry Palm’s field of 64 teams.

McLaughlin scored seven straight points to tu the game around. He tied it, 65-65, with 3:30 left and then gave USC a 68-65 lead on a 3-pointer. With 2:49 remaining he hit another shot to extend the advantage to 70-65.

“I was just going with the flow of the game,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin scored a career-high 25 points while Jacobs finished with 17.

Prior to that it looked like Colorado (19-8, 8-6) might rout the Trojans (19-7, 8-5).

Josh Fortune’s 3-pointer made it 58-45 with 9:35 remaining and Wesley Gordon added a short jumper to make it 60-45 with 8:56, the largest lead until that point.

Despite the fact Colorado’s top player, Josh Scott, did not start because of a sore ankle, the Buffaloes dominated the Trojans under the basket. Colorado outrebounded USC, 23-11, in the first half and had six offensive rebounds to USC’s one.

With 12 minutes left in the game, Colorado outrebounded USC, 29-12.

Colorado’s starting lineup was actually shorter than USC, with two 6-foot-9 forwards (Wesley Gordon, Tory Miller) going against USC’s Nikola Jovanovic (6-11) and Bennie Boatwright (6-10). But things quickly changed when the 6-10 Scott entered the game. He had eight rebounds and eight points in the first half.

Scott finished with 17 points coming off the bench while Gordon and George King each scored 13.

Colorado took a 37-29 halftime lead by holding the Trojans to 37 percent shooting. USC made only two of nine 3-point shots and McLaughlin was the only player in double figures with 10 points.

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Notes

Nicholas Brill, who runs the Boston-based search firm conducting the search for an athletic director, attended the game with USC president Max Nikias. Brill was conducting business for other job searches at USC on Wednesday.

Nikias said he expects more than 200 applicants for the job and that it could take “several months” before an athletic director is hired. USC athletic director Pat Haden did not attend the game but watched on TV according to Nikias.

USC is off for three days before hosting Utah on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Galen Center.

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