USC offense comes to life in win over Alabama State

LOS ANGELES — When Boogie Ellis passed the ball to him with the first-half clock running down, Tre White threw up the perfunctory shot, no look of expectation on his face as the shot went up from a few feet past half court.

So when the ball swished in, he turned around to the USC bench and danced with his arms down by his sides before jumping to bump shoulders with a leaping Kobe Johnson, smiles all around for USC.

After a disastrous season opener, the Trojans were back to having fun with a 96-58 over Alabama State on Thursday night.

Senior Drew Peterson led USC with 21 points on 7-for-9 shooting while guard Boogie Ellis added 15 and a career-high seven steals.

Head coach Andy Enfield admitted the days after Monday’s opening loss to Florida Gulf Coast weren’t much fun around Galen Center. The team addressed the issues arising from the game — rebounding, stagnant offense and turnovers — and tried to make the necessary corrections in two days.

But at first it looked like USC could be in for a repeat performance. Alabama State took an early 8-7 lead, using four offensive rebounds to create five points.

USC responded, though, with a 10-0 run, holding the Hornets to 0-for-8 shooting and a 3-for-17 mark to start the game. USC would never trail again in the game, and eventually built its lead up as large as 46.

The Trojans made a more concerted effort to move the ball around after committing death-by-iso-ball in the opener. They made multiple passes, looked for the cutting man, attacked the paint and fed center Joshua Morgan, something the team failed to do during his seven-block performance on Monday.

There were still moments for isolation, whether it was Peterson making a turnaround jumper or Ellis driving to the rim late in the shot clock for a layup. But USC let those moments come to it instead of forcing them.

“I was very proud of our guys to try to play the right way,” Enfield said. “We scored 87 and 86 in our two scrimmages. That’s why it was so shocking on Monday to score 61.”

The result was more what Enfield and his staff had in mind for this team, a balanced unit where players could take turns as the primary option on a game-by-game, or as it went Thursday, play-by-play basis.

Every USC starter scored at least seven points, with four ending in double digits. Malik Thomas added 10 off the bench. USC shot 55.4% from the floor and assisted on 22 of 36 baskets, with Peterson and Johnson adding six apiece. The Trojans even made 11 shots from 3-point range after the dismal 3-for-19 showing in the opener.

“That’s normally how we play in practice so it’s not surprising to us,” Morgan said. “Now that we got the first-game jitters out of the way, we’re back to our style of play.”

And USC’s guards made an effort to crash the boards after being challenged to do so by Enfield this week. White led the team with 12 rebounds and USC won that battle by a 44-37 margin.

“He’s our best rebounder,” Enfield said of White. “He had his mind made up.”

It wasn’t a perfect night. The free-throw shooting was again an eyesore in the box score, and turnovers remained high.

But it was a welcome sign of improvement after what could have been a spirit-breaking loss on Monday.

“Having those conversations, whether they had to do with us coming together on the court, off the court,” guard Reese Dixon-Waters said. “We were confident coming together as a team.”

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