USC beats fucla 72-63: Post Game Thoughts

Davon Jefferson was an absolute beast, throwing down 25 points, pulling down 9 rebounds, and delivering some thunderous dunks in the "house that wooden built," as the Trojans ended fucla's 9 game winning streak with a 72-63 victory this afternoon. O.J. Mayo chipped in 16 points and 4 assists for the Trojans, who improved their overall record to (11-6) and (2-3) in the Pac-10.

Congratulations to our team, what a great win for the Trojans and Coach Tim Floyd. I have to admit, I had my doubts about this game, especially with the team's recent attitude and lack of focus. Following the WSU loss, which dropped the Trojans to (0-3) in Pac-10 play, Daniel Hackett said that the team quit against the Cougars. That statement was very concerning to USC fans because that game was very competitive in the first half, and when WSU made their run in the 2nd hafl, the Trojans just laid down. Furthermore, Davon Jefferson was suspended for that game for undisclosed reasons. The season looked grim with this trip to Pauley on deck. This was not how USC wanted to start conference play, conference play is supposed to challenge you and make you a better to team and prepare you for March Madness, but instead our team was unraveling.

Fast forward to today though and you saw a completely different team, the one that outplayed #3Kansas and #2Memphis for the better part of those games. This win over fucla may be a season changing game for the Trojans. I know it's early and USC is still only (2-3) in the Pac-10, but more importantly, they now have some confidence going into the final stretch of the season. This team was able to suck it up and grind out a win, something it failed to do in their losses to Kansas and Memphis. Even more glorious is the fact that we were able to beat those hated fucla ruins.

Nestor's misfits across town are having difficulty coping with defeat, but there are some classy bruin fans that can take the game for exactly what it is...a game. Here's the game summary from the eyes of BN poster jbcoach:

An embarrasing effort on the part of our Bruins today. USC looked like the poised team down the stretch, and we looked horrible. We had a 6-7 point lead and all of the sudden our shot selection became atrocious. We were just jacking stuff up and nobody stepped up. Love, Collison, and Shipp cannot do it all. Westbrook, Keefe, Aboya, etc have got to step us offensively and contribute, or this is gonna happen again. USC wanted it more, congrats to them.

by jbcoach on Sat Jan 19, 2008 at 05:44:05 PM EDT

Once again, congratulations to Coach Floyd and the Trojans for this hard fought win. USC hits the road again next week for games at the Oregon schools, so let's stay behind the team and cheer them on all the way to the end.

Fight On!

photos: courtesy of Yahoo! Sports and LA Times