March Madness: No. 7 USC falls to No. 10 Miami in back-and-forth matchup, 68-66
The USC Trojans became yet another team to fall victim to the madness that is college basketball in March, falling to the Miami Hurricanes in their Round of 64 matchup Friday afternoon.
The two teams exchanged leads 10 times in the second half alone in what as an uncharacteristically sloppy game from USC, shooting just 60% from the line and totaling 10 team fouls with more than three minutes left in the second half.
Turnovers were the name of the game, as the Trojans lost the ball 18 times throughout the course of the game, while Miami turned it over just three times.
Despite not allowing Miami to make a single three-point shot through the entire first half, and the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Trojans fell in the final minutes of a back-and-forth contest. Miami was 0-for-12 on three-pointers up to that point. They finished the game 1/14 on threes.
USC had just two scorers in the double digits as the game headed into the last five minutes - Reese Dixon-Waters and Isaiah Mobley. Goodwin joined them in double digits late in the second half, finishing a big sequence where he snuffed a Miami attempted layup before he cruised down the court for his own two - a nice floater over a defender in the paint.
Dixon-Waters finished the matchup with 16 points. A wild final minute would see Drew Peterson take over the scoring lead for the Trojans by the game's finish, with 17.
With just over two minutes left in the game, Miami's leading-scorer, Isaiah Wong, fouled out of the game on a push-foul of Dixon-Waters. The play then led to a big missed foul call directly in front of USC head coach Andy Enfield, leading him into outrage.
Wong finished the day with 22 points.
Miami had three players hit double-digit scoring Friday, led by Wong and followed by Charlie Moore's 16 points and Kameron McGusty's 12.
With just 32.6 seconds left in the matchup, the Trojans forced their third turnover of the game following a clutch three-pointer from Drew Peterson, cutting the deficit to 65-61.
Peterson then drilled another three off the timeout, giving him 15 points for the game and cutting the lead, 65-64 with 25.3 second left.
He would yet again provide the clutch for the Trojans, driving the lane for a tough jumper off the glass, tying the game 66-66.
On the next drive, and no shot clock left, the Hurricanes drove the court at the hands of Charlie Moore who was fouled -- nailing both free throws, sending them up 68-66 and sealing the victory.
In tournament play Thursday, the Trojans cross-city rivals escaped what was nearly a very similar upset, when the No.4 UCLA Bruins eked out their 57-53 victory over the Akron Zips.
No. 15 Cal State Fullerton was set to face off against No. 2 seeded Duke later Friday.
