Los Angeles, CA – USC basketball coach Andy Enfield earned his 100th victory with the Trojans as they dominated Southern Utah, 91-49, Friday night at the Galen Center. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for USC.
The 49 points allowed tonight were a season low and USC had a season-high 24 assists. The Trojans improved to 6-6 with one more non-conference game left on the schedule.
“It feels great,” Enfield said. “We played well tonight. We’ve been on the road and it’s been a tough stretch. It’s nice to play well on both sides of the ball tonight.”
Junior forward Nick Rakocevic led USC with 21 points while Bennie Boatwright scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
“I was being aggressive, imposed my will and scored,” Boatwright said. “I like seeing the ball go up to the rim. When we get stops, we play better on offense because we get out on transition.”
USC utilized a 13-2 run to open a big lead against Southern Utah and scored 11-straight points to take a 30-12 lead with five minutes left in the first half.
Southern Utah trailed by 19 points in the first half before coming back to make it a 39-25 game at the half.
“Southern Utah is a very dangerous team,” Enfield said. “We played well on defense and held them down. They’ll have a good season, they can score.”
USC outscored SUU 52-22 on points in the paint and recorded a season high 11 steals which led to a 33-12 advantage on points off of turnovers. Southern Utah had an opponent-high 24 turnovers.
The Trojans next game will be against UC Davis at the Galen Center on Dec. 30 at 6 p.m.
