Cal outshot USC by five percent a week ago. These Trojans are not a bad unit, especially considering the circumstances and considering there are only seven of them, but they have not proven capable of putting together a string of solid defensive performances.Īrizona shot 61 percent Saturday.
Why? Just as was the case the previous weekend at home against the Bay Area schools, USC lost Saturday's game not because of a lack of offensive output (surprise, surprise!), but because its defensive effort was not up to par against Arizona - or Cal the prior week, for that matter.Īnd that leads us to this: Kevin O'Neill's squad's defense is simply not consistent enough this season for the Trojans to make serious postseason noise. But the reality is this: USC (12-6, 4-5 in Pac-10) dug itself into a bit of a hole to begin the season with losses to Rider and Bradley and now needs a couple streaky stretches of play to get into favorable position to qualify for postseason play.Īnd it doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon. It's an entirely forgivable loss, one that came on the road to the second-best team in the conference. It's not as if the Trojans were supposed to beat the Wildcats. With Saturday's 82-73 loss to Arizona, USC recorded its second straight weekend split - and third overall - in Pac-10 conference play.
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