Los Angeles, CA – The Trojans hosted the University of Washington today at the Galen Center. Where they not so politely told the Huskies to take their brooms back up the coast because sweeping the east side of Los Angeles wasn’t going down with the final score of today’s rumble USC 98 UW 88.
The Huskies walked into the Galen Center tied for first in the conference and fresh off a sweep of UCLA… A feat they hadn’t performed since 2010–11 season. The Huskies had every intent on dealing the USC Trojans the same fate. But the over 6000 fans were extremely happy to see the Trojans put two fingers in the air and say “No! No! No! Not in our house!” USC has yet to take a loss this season on their home court.
The Trojans were about the business of winning almost immediately as they started their attack on the Huskies. With a mind blowing five players in double digits Bennie Boatwright with 15 points, the fire starter Nikola Jovanovic with 28 points, Katin Reinhardt with 11 points, Jordan McLaughlin with 21 points and Elijah Stewart with 10 points. The Trojans did their homework and focused on what went wrong at the last match up with UW. Coach Enfield’s solution switching to a zone in the second to slow down the pace allowing the Trojans to maintain the lead they work so hard for in the first.
The Huskies took the Trojans resistance very personal. A frustrated Andrew Andrews got hit for 3 fouls back to back against Jordan McLaughlin with only 46 seconds remaining in the game, one of them being called flagrant after giving Jordan a hard elbow to his freshly healed nose. Ouch! To add to the Huskies frustration level was the fact that they were stuck in an arctic freeze from the 3 point zone in the first having hit a dismal 14%.
USC gets a week off to prepare for round two of the crosstown rivalry against UCLA scheduled to take place February 4 at the Galen Center. The Trojans will have brooms on standby.
