Las Vegas, NV – The basketball gods were at the USC vs Utah quarterfinals PAC-12 game taking place in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Unfortunately for USC the Gods were Utah fans today, the final score was Utah 80 USC 72.
This game was a total 12 alarm fire. I couldn’t tell if the court was making the heat or the stands because the entire building was on maximum turn up. I mean the score was tied five times! The lead change not 7 or 10 times. It changed 14 Times! These two teams totally equally matched. Both teams put up 39 points in the second half.
The Trojans can chalk this loss up to a touch of the bad luck. Their three point shots are normally money in the bank bounced out like a brand-new Spalding ball. Utah did make some seriously adjustment like keeping USC off the free-throw line. They are known for picking up some quick points there. Other than Jordan McLaughlin and Julian Jacobs were look like their regular high energy selves with that dash of showmanship. Utah was really a living example of what a good team effort should look like. Jordan Loveridge, Kyle Kuzma, Jakob Poeltl and Lorenzo Bonam all were in double digits for points.
After this loss in the press conference USC head coach Andy Enfield spoke highly of his team and turn around from last season. This year they have 20 wins compared to 2015 campaign with 20 losses. They will be watching the TV screens on selection Sunday to see if get shipped out east for March Maddens.
With this sweat equity win Utah moves to semifinals on Friday to face 3 seed the Cal Bears at 8:30pm. They are living no delusion that the games are going to get tougher as the get higher up on the food chain. But they say, “We are taking it one game at a time, one win time.”
