Even observing warmups, Kevin O'Neill admitted that his team was totally undermanned.
The Trojans had seven scholarship players in street clothes watching six scholarship players in the lay-up lines. And of the six, only James Blasczyk had the size to match-up with UCLA's powerful front line.
Despite the mismatch, the Trojans won the second half 38-33 and gave UCLA a decent test in a 64-54 loss at the Sports Arena last night.
"We're outmatched, but I thought our guys dug in in the second half," O'Neill said. "We fought back [and] were a couple shots from making it a game."
With only one conference victory, the Trojans are focused on other goals like developing the returning talent. Byron Wesley (16 points and 7 rebounds) and Garrett Jackson (15 points, 4 steals and 3 blocks) put in strong shifts.
"They have gotten a lot better since the start of the season," said Maurice Jones about his inexperienced teammates. "That's the goal. We just want everybody to get a lot better and start preparing for the offseason."
USC will get three of the next four days off before preparing for the final four regular season games starting next Monday.
(Photo of Alexis Moore via Los Angeles Times)
The Trojans had seven scholarship players in street clothes watching six scholarship players in the lay-up lines. And of the six, only James Blasczyk had the size to match-up with UCLA's powerful front line.Despite the mismatch, the Trojans won the second half 38-33 and gave UCLA a decent test in a 64-54 loss at the Sports Arena last night.
"We're outmatched, but I thought our guys dug in in the second half," O'Neill said. "We fought back [and] were a couple shots from making it a game."
With only one conference victory, the Trojans are focused on other goals like developing the returning talent. Byron Wesley (16 points and 7 rebounds) and Garrett Jackson (15 points, 4 steals and 3 blocks) put in strong shifts.
"They have gotten a lot better since the start of the season," said Maurice Jones about his inexperienced teammates. "That's the goal. We just want everybody to get a lot better and start preparing for the offseason."
USC will get three of the next four days off before preparing for the final four regular season games starting next Monday.
(Photo of Alexis Moore via Los Angeles Times)
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