Originally published February 4, 2012 at 10:36 PM | Page modified February 5, 2012 at 12:48 PM
Huskies stay atop Pac-12 with 69-41 victory over lowly USC
Washington is a game ahead of California and Colorado after crushing a USC team that had just six scholarship players in the lineup.
Seattle Times staff reporter
DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Sophomore guard Terrence Ross scores on a floater in the lane against USC in the first half Saturday.
For the better part of Saturday's game, Washington struggled offensively and couldn't distance itself on the scoreboard against an injury-depleted USC team that had only six available scholarship players.
The Huskies led by six points in the second half, but were a few baskets away from turning the game into the expected rout between the Pac-12's first and last-place teams.
The 9,948 at Edmundson Pavilion kept waiting for someone to do something electric and with about 11 minutes left Tony Wroten Jr. muscled in a putback, which all but wrapped up Washington's 69-41 victory.
The Huskies simply wore down the short-handed Trojans, who failed to score during a decisive 6 ½-minute drought late in the second half.
USC freshman guard Byron Wesley sank a free throw with 9:50 remaining to cut Washington's lead to 44-33. The Trojans didn't score again until Wesley nailed at jumper with 3:21 left.
Washington forced six straight missed jumpers and took control of the game with an 18-0 run that gave the fans what they came to see — a decisive victory.
Sparsely used freshman Martin Breunig capped the spurt with a two-hand flush in traffic that thrilled the crowd and many of the starters, who watched the final minutes from the bench.
The blowout allowed Washington to rest ailing stars, including Wroten, who was questionable to play because of a thigh bruise.
The freshman guard logged 29 minutes and finished with 13 points, eight assists, six rebounds and just one turnover.
"If it's up to me, I always want to play," Wroten said. "You've got to think about the big picture. If I was unable to play, I wouldn't have played.
"But I knew coming in if I have a little bit of potential to play I was going to play."
The Huskies received 10 points and a career-tying 14 rebounds from Terrence Ross, who led the way offensively and allowed sophomore guard C.J. Wilcox, who is bothered by a sore hip, to play just 14 minutes. The Huskies outrebounded the Trojans 52-23.
Washington led 29-19 in the first half and struggled with USC early in the second before putting the game away.
"It's big for us because it shows where our character is," forward Darnell Gant said. "It shows ... we're looking at the big picture and you can't overlook USC because they're at the bottom of the Pac-12 right now.
"We have to take this game just like when we played UCLA and take it like we played Arizona. Take it like they're a team that can potentially knock us off. And we don't want that. We want to keep ourselves in a position that we're on a nice cushion."
The Huskies (16-7, 9-2) remain a full game ahead of California (18-6, 8-3) and Colorado (16-7, 8-3) atop the Pac-12.
Washington lost the previous two games at home against USC, but this time the Huskies used a suffocating defense to stymie the Trojans into 28.8 percent shooting from the field.
Given USC's half-court oriented approach, coach Lorenzo Romar predicted the game would be tough sledding offensively.
"It's usually been a grinder, a move-the-chains type of game," he said Friday.
Both teams combined to shoot just 3 of 30 on three-pointers, but UW was a little better than USC from the field. The Huskies shot 40 percent in the first half and 57 percent in the second.
"If we made some shots or layups or free throws in the first 30 minutes, I mean ... we had good looks," USC coach Kevin O'Neill said. "Greg Allen is 1 for 10 (on three-pointers), and if we don't shoot the ball any better now we are not going to win.
"Toward the end during the last eight minutes it just got worse. We don't have the numbers with all the injuries and losses in recruiting classes and all of that. It's just the way it is."
The Huskies won their season-best fifth straight game.
Washington closes with five of seven games on the road, including Thursday at Oregon.
Garrett Jackson scored 15 and Wesley had 12 for the Trojans (6-18, 1-10).
"We're more focused now," Gant said. "We're looking at the big picture and everybody is buying into what's at stake. Everybody is buying into the system right now and nobody is focusing on themselves. We're all thinking about team. When you think about team you're playing good defense, playing Husky basketball and good things start to happen."
| USC | |||||||
| min | fgm-a | ftm-a | or-t | a | pf | pts | |
| Jackson | 34 | 7-14 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Blasczyk | 21 | 0-5 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Allen | 37 | 2-13 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Jones | 40 | 3-13 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Wesley | 38 | 5-13 | 2-5 | 1-5 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Moore | 13 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Strangis | 12 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Munoz | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 200 | 17-59 | 6-13 | 6-23 | 7 | 14 | 41 | |
| WASHINGTON | |||||||
| min | fgm-a | ftm-a | or-t | a | pf | pts | |
| Simmons | 13 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| N'Diaye | 22 | 3-5 | 3-6 | 2-5 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Gaddy | 34 | 3-9 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| Wroten | 29 | 5-9 | 3-4 | 5-6 | 8 | 1 | 13 |
| Ross | 33 | 3-9 | 4-4 | 0-14 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Stewart | 3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Breunig | 6 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Wegner | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilcox | 14 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Sfrian-Jnkins | 6 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Kemp Jr | 13 | 3-4 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Sherrer | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Gant | 21 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 3-7 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 200 | 28-58 | 11-18 | 15-52 | 17 | 13 | 69 | |
| USC | 19 | 22 | — | 41 |
| Washington | 29 | 40 | — | 69 |
Attendance: 9,948. Officials: Gregory Nixon, Ruben Ramos, Frank Harvey III.
Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com.
