The Trojans were put to the test for the first time this season and came out on top against the Monmouth Hawks. Led by sophomore point guard Jordan McLaughlin, USC scored more than 100 points for the first time since 2002.
It's How You Finish
Despite watching their early 15-point lead dwindle to just one at the half, the Trojans buckled down late in the game to earn their second victory of the season. The focus displayed in the face of foul trouble, rebounding concerns and several second half turnovers revealed a more mature and mentally tough team than the one that finished just 12-20 last year. USC shot 52.9 percent from the field in the second half and stitched together clutch, back-to-back three-pointers down the stretch to put the Hawks away.Â
"Our players are just better basketball players," said Enfield of his team's performance. "They're more composed. They understand that this is a game of a lot of runs. I thought that was a very exciting college basketball game tonight and I was proud of our players and how they played together down the stretch."
Frequent Fouler Miles
Monday night's game featured 52 combined fouls between the two teams. The dilemma forced Enfield and his staff to get creative with their lineup throughout the game as well as rely on his team's ability to utilize its perimeter shooting game. With freshmen bigs Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu in early foul trouble, Enfield elected to use a four-guard formation for much of the second half featuring McLaughlin, Julian Jacobs, Elijah Stewart and Katin Reinhardt. Reinhardt turned up his intensity in the second half, scoring nine of his 13 total points in the clutch. Four other Trojans scored in double figures including McLaughlin (22), Jovanovic (20), Stewart (20) and Jacobs (19).Â
Give It Up for the Guards
Due to McLaughlin's shoulder injury last season, he and fellow guard Jacobs didn't share the floor very often. The tandem appear to be working very efficiently together this season, combining for 41 points, 11 assists and 15 rebounds against the Hawks. One of Enfield's biggest goals heading into the season was to see his guards play with more consistency week-in and week-out. While a two-game sample size is a little small to make a definite ruling, the performances of McLaughlin and Jacobs have been promising so far.
"They're playing really good basketball and playing really good together," Enfield said. "They're confident, they're sharing the basketball and it's fun to watch. A big focal point of our preseason was to make the extra pass and play good team basketball and I think you saw that down the stretch."
Here are the SnappyTV highlights from the Trojans' second consecutive victory at Galen Center...
