Arizona Runs Wild At The Galen Center Against USC

USC Trojans #0 Boogie Ellis (G) guarded by Arizona Wildcats # Kerr Kriisa (G) at the Galen Center. Photo by Jerry Kelly/T.G.Sportstv1.

3/1/22 LOS ANGELES, CA - The USC Trojans' top three scorers, Boogie Ellis, Drew Peterson, and Isaiah Mobley, had a terrible shooting night, loss to the #2 rank team in the country, the Arizona Wildcats 91-71.

Mobley was 3-12 shooting from the floor with 11-points, Ellis 3-11 with 9-points, and Peterson 2-11 with 10-points. The leading scorer for the Trojans was Max Agbonkpolo, with 14-points off the bench.

Arizona scored 19-points off of turnovers, and the slow start and poor shooting in the first half were just too much for the Trojans to overcome against a good time.

"Our best players have to play well in big games," USC Head Coach Andy Enfield said. "They didn't do that tonight. They had off nights. Tonight we were not very good. Our offense hurt our defense. They got in transition and it really hurt us. It was frustrating and it was frustrating for our players."

The Wildcats led 5-0 in the first half with a hook shot by Christian Koloko. USC Trail 5-4 after two free throws by Chavez Goodwin. Goodwin's two-handed dunk had the Trojans trailing 7-6.

Arizona Wildcats #0 Bennedict Whaturin (G/F) shooting a jump shot over the outreached hand of USC Trojans #3 Isaiah Mobley (F). Photo by Jerry Kelly/T.G.Sportstv1.

The Wildcats led 11-6 after a layup by Justin Kier. The Trojans called a timeout after trailing 17-8 with 14:43 left in the first half. After the timeout, the Wildcats led 21-8 with a jump shot by Kololko.

Max Agbonkpolo's layup had the Trojans trailing by ten points, 21-11, with 11:23 left in the first half. Dalen Terry's layup gave Arizona a 25-11 lead. USC trail Arizona 27-18 after a layup by Goodwin.

Arizona increased their lead to 33-18 after a three-point shot by Kerr Kriisa. Terry gave Arizona a 37-21 lead with his two-hand monster dunk.

The Wildcats led 44-23 with a dunk by Oumar Ballo with 2:47 left in the first half. Isaiah Mobley's layup made the score 46-25. Arizona led at halftime 51-27 after a three-pointer Kier.

USC Trojans Drew Peterson (G) driving to the basket against the Arizona Wildcats #0 Bennedict Mathurin (G/F) at the Galen Center. Photo by Jerry Kelly/T.G.Sportstv1.

Mathurin led the Wildcats in scoring in the first half with 14-points. Drew Peterson, Mobley, and Goodwin all had 6-points.

Goodwin's layup made the score 51-29 to start the second half. Arizona pushed their lead up to 59-31 after a three-pointer by Mathurin.

USC trailed by thirty points 64-34 after a layup by the Wildcats' Azuuolas Tubelis. Arizona was up 68-41 after a jump shot by Kier. Reese Dixon-Waters' fall-away jump shot made the score 70-43.

Agbonkpolo's driving layup had the Trojans down 71-47 with 10:06 left in the game. Pelle Larsson's layup gave the Wildcats a 75-49 lead. Arizona led 80-54 with a three-pointer by Kier.

Boogie Ellis's basket and free throw made the score 80-62 with 5:16 left in the game. Arizona led 85-64 with Terry's three-point shot. Joshua Morgan's jump shot made the score 88-68.

Arizona (26-3, Pac-12, 16-2) beat USC (25-5), Pac-12 14-5) by twenty points, 91-71, with Mathurin leading the Wildcats in scoring with 19-points, Kriisa 18-points, Kier 12-points, Terry and Ballo all with 11-points to stay in first place in the Pac-12 Conference.

USC will have to shoot much better than 27-68 shots from the floor for 39.7% when they go to Westwood to take on the UCLA Bruins for their last game of the season.