{"id":198941,"date":"2026-03-01T04:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198941\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T04:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T04:59:18","slug":"usc-men-routed-by-nebraska-after-building-halftime-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198941\/","title":{"rendered":"USC men routed by Nebraska after building halftime lead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another winnable game was slipping away, another frustrating performance by USC<\/a> unraveling in painfully familiar fashion, when Jaden Brownell lifted up from the corner for a wide-open three-pointer, offering a split-second of hope in an otherwise hopeless second half.<\/p>\n

But the shot clanked away. A collective sigh from the cardinal-and-gold faithful rippled through Galen Center, only to be swallowed up seconds later when Nebraska\u2019s Pryce Sandfort, who finished with 32 points, knocked down a three-pointer of his own. That\u2019s when USC\u2019s own arena exploded with a deafening Big Red roar, loud enough to make you forget you were in Los Angeles \u2014 or that these lifeless Trojans had once looked like a real NCAA tournament team.<\/p>\n

There were still more than nine minutes remaining after that in Saturday\u2019s brutal 82-67 loss<\/a>, though that roar from the Nebraska faithful might as well have been the exclamation point. Whether it becomes the punctuation mark on a frustrating second season for USC under coach Eric Musselman was still to be determined.<\/p>\n

The Trojans have lost five consecutive games as of Saturday and sit in a tie for 11th in the Big Ten. They still have two regular-season games remaining to bolster their middling tournament resume, both of which they can ill afford to lose.<\/p>\n

A midweek matchup at Washington looms especially large. A loss to the Huskies, who are 14-15, would make climbing back from the bubble brink especially harrowing. A rivalry rematch awaits after that against UCLA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think we could have a successful season,\u201d forward Terrance Williams II said Saturday . \u201cI had that positive mindset coming into the season. I still have that positive mindset. The season\u2019s not over. \u2026 We can change the trajectory of the season very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nebraska <\/p>\n

Nebraska forward Pryce Sandfort (21) drives past USC forward Terrance Williams II (5) during the first half Saturday.<\/p>\n

(William Liang \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Nothing, though, about Saturday\u2019s second half suggested USC was poised for positive change.<\/p>\n

The Trojans positioned themselves in the first half to make a very different statement Saturday. They took advantage of foul trouble from Nebraska point guard Sam Hoiberg and led by five points at halftime. Chad Baker-Mazara had already poured in 14 points, and they barely needed freshman Alijah Arenas, who was left out of the starting lineup and played only nine minutes.
\u201cThey had belief,\u201d Musselman said.<\/p>\n

Yet after shooting 52% from the field in the first half, the Trojans were suddenly unable to find the target in the second. For the first five minutes of the half, a dunk from Jacob Cofie was USC\u2019s only basket. During another five-minute stretch in the second half, USC couldn\u2019t even manage a dunk.<\/p>\n

Its issues only got worse when Baker-Mazara fell hard trying to block a lay-in. He didn\u2019t play the rest of the game, as Musselman said Baker-Mazara told the staff he was unable to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey played great in the second half,\u201d Musselman said, \u201cand we did not play very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Trojans didn\u2019t fare much better on the glass, either, as Nebraska more than doubled USC\u2019s total rebounds (22 to 10) after halftime.<\/p>\n

The defense followed suit, with Nebraska piling up points in the paint at will. Sixteen of the Huskers\u2019 first 20 points in the second half came on either dunks or lay-ins as USC\u2019s defense lacked any semblance of urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like they came out with more energy to be honest,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThe first couple possessions, you could see it. They wanted it more than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

How that\u2019s still the case, after several similarly frustrating second halves this season, is still unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond halves, they\u2019re hard,\u201d Brownell said. \u201cWe have to accept that and get ready quicker in the locker room, get our mental right and then come in and be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with the Trojans on the very brink of the tournament bubble, time is quickly running out on that possibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another winnable game was slipping away, another frustrating performance by USC unraveling in painfully familiar fashion, when Jaden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[14474,29693,69418,11153,44093,45681,48,52,51,47,50,49,5463,17677,1893,1417,777,92502,315,23138,3533],"class_list":{"0":"post-198941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-comeback","9":"tag-cornhuskers","10":"tag-dunk","11":"tag-first-half","12":"tag-halftime-lead","13":"tag-jacob-cofie","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-headlines","16":"tag-la-news","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","19":"tag-los-angeles-news","20":"tag-minute","21":"tag-nebraska","22":"tag-new-way","23":"tag-point","24":"tag-second-half","25":"tag-star-crossed-season","26":"tag-time","27":"tag-trojans","28":"tag-usc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}