Southern California rallies again to knock SMU out of NCAA tournament
TULSA — Afterward, they could not help themselves. Someone pulled out a smartphone, and pulled up the video, and several Southern California Trojans gathered around in the locker room, debating who got victimized in the best dunk of the NCAA tournament.
They quickly determined Semi Ojeleye’s putback jam came at the expense, mostly, of Elijah Stewart. And no, Stewart did not enjoy watching — or his teammates’ subsequent decision, or especially their continuing laughter. But there was also this:
“He got a fresh charter (flight) back with his dunk, too,” the junior guard said. “He can watch it the whole flight.”
Point made — or in Stewart’s case, with 37 seconds left in the game, huge three-pointer made, propelling No. 11 USC to a 66-65 victory against No. 6 SMU. And just maybe, after rallying from big deficits to win two games in less than 48 hours, the Trojans have made a larger point.
Wednesday night, playing in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, USC trailed Providence by 17 points before storming back to win. Friday afternoon, the deficit was 12 points against an opponent that was a trendy pick to play deep into March.
BOX SCORE: Southern Califiornia 66, SMU 65
HIGHLIGHTS: The best of Friday's NCAA action
BRACKET: Follow the field to Glendale
Instead, after winning for the 13th time this season after trailing by at least 10 points, the Trojans will settle in for the weekend. Come Sunday, they will meet No. 3 Baylor with a shot at advancing to the Sweet 16. After coming from way back — again — this is a confident bunch.
“We’re not gonna play anyone in the tournament that’s gonna overwhelm us with talent,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “We feel like we can compete with any team in the country.”
That’s mostly because they have. After winning their first 14 games — including a 78-73 win over SMU, which turned out to be pretty important on Selection Sunday — they slumped in Pac-12 play, sort of. Yeah, there were losses to Utah and California and Arizona State. But the other six came to Arizona, Oregon and UCLA — the Pac-12’s top three teams, and three of the nation’s best, teams no one would be surprised to see playing next weekend, and maybe the next.
The Trojans believe they’ve grown to fit into that conversation, too. USC is young — only one scholarship senior, and three sophomores and two juniors in the starting lineup — but very athletic, with several scoring options. Perhaps most important, the Trojans possess an outsized collective confidence.
Enfield calls them “extremely streaky … good and bad.” It doesn’t seem like a recipe for success in March, when only takes one bad streak to end a season. But after all of those comebacks, the Trojans have some swagger.
“We know what we’re capable of,” junior guard Jordan McLaughlin said. “There’s never a point in the game where we feel we’re gonna lose. We never feel that way. We just keep fighting, and the next thing you know it’s a one-point game or we’ve got the lead.”
The week began with the revelation that USC had gotten an at-large bid — it wasn’t certain — but would play in the First Four, meaning an NCAA tournament rematch with Providence, which had ousted the Trojans on a buzzer-beater in the first round a year ago. Then, they weathered a five-hour flight delay before leaving for Dayton. After beating Providence, the Trojans boarded a flight to Tulsa. They arrived at 2:30 a.m. local time Thursday morning.
“It’s been a hectic four days,” Enfield said, adding: “We should fly back to L.A. and practice, then fly back.”
Instead, they’ll hang around until Sunday after a game Enfield called a “microcosm of our season.” Down eight at halftime? USC trailed Providence by 15 at halftime on Wednesday.
“Eight points at halftime, that’s nothing to us,” Enfield said. “Just keep playing, and see what happens.”
And so they’ll do just that. Never mind that the Mustangs looked before the tournament — and at times during the game — like a serious threat to make a deep run. Or that their defense gave USC fits, like they had so many others this season. Or that Ojeleye was nearly unstoppable for much of the game — the dunk was the easy highlight, but his performance in the lane was impressive (24 points, 10 rebounds). SMU led for almost 36 minutes but couldn’t pull away. The Trojans slowly reeled in the Mustangs.
“We’ve been in those positions before,” Stewart said, “so we’re kind of seasoned to it. And you just can’t stop. You just gotta keep going.”
And in the end, it was Stewart with the highlight that will be remembered — “The biggest shot of his career,” Enfield called it. They had run the play a little earlier, and the ball was deflected out of bounds by the defender assigned to Stewart, who’d moved over to help on a drive.
“I was open,” said Stewart of the previous play.
He was open again the next time. When McLaughlin found him in the corner, he buried the three-pointer — one of his six on the day. There was a lot more basketball left, including missed free-throw opportunities by both teams and as the buzzer sounded, a floater in the lane by SMU guard Shake Milton that rimmed out.
“I had my eyes closed,” Stewart said.
A few minutes later in the locker room, he watched Ojeleye’s dunk and listened to his teammates’ laughter. And then, finally, he laughed last.
MARCH MADNESS HIGHLIGHTS
