‘Eaters Fall to Trojans on the Road

Tuesday, December 8

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

UC Irvine

2-3,0-0Big West

USC

4-1,0-0Pac-12

Team	1	2	F
UC Irvine	21	35	56
Southern California	46	45	91

‘Eaters Fall to Trojans on the Road

December 08, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – UC Irvine dropped a 91-56 decision to USC, Tuesday night at the Galen Center.

UCI falls to 2-3 on the season while USC improves to 4-1 overall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Dawson Baker led the 'Eaters with 17 points on 6-9 shooting overall and 3-4 from long range
> Austin Johnson also finished in double-figures with 10 points. Johnson grabbed a team-best seven rebounds
> Andre Henry added a team-best five assists while Baker and Brad Greene each had a block
> UCI shot 33.8 percent (23-68) from the floor overall and 21.1 percent (4-19) from long range while USC was 32-62 (.516) overall and 50 percent (12-24) from the three-point line
> The Trojans outrebounded the Anteaters 42-34 and outscored UCI in the paint 34-22. The 'Eaters bench held a 38-29 scoring advantage
> USC's Evan Mobley finished with a game-high 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks

First Half
> UCI got on the board first with a layup from Brad Greene at 19:13 before USC went on a 7-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish
> DJ Davis and Baker made back-to-back jumpers to bring UCI within five, 12-7, with 12:46 remaining
> A Baker three at 9:40 kept the 'Eaters within five, 17-12
> The Trojans used a 16-2 run to break open the lead and go up, 33-14, with 3:43 remaining
> Baker would hit another three with 1:44 to play
> USC extended its lead, 46-21, heading into the locker rooms
> Baker reached double-digits scoring a team-high 10 points in the half

Second Half
> A Johnson layup sparked an 11-0 run that brought UCI within 19, 58-39, with 13:39 remaining. Johnson scored seven points in that stretch
> Back-to-back layups from Greene and a driving layup from Davis made it 64-47 with 9:47 to play
> USC used an 11-3 run to stretch the lead 78-52 (5:32)
> Baker and Collin Welp each made a jumper down the stretch but the Trojans continued the offensive assault en route to a 35 point, 91-56 victory.

Quotes from Russell Turner
"It's hard to come away from this performance with any good feeling for our players and our fans so that is frustrating. I was hoping to see more of an improvement and we did not get that tonight. We were never really able to get our footing defensively or on the glass. I give a lot of credit to USC, they played really well. We didn't do anything to dictate the defensive, and when we have won games against Power 5 teams in the past we were always able to do that. I need to get us sorted out and ready to compete against Division 1 teams."

Up Next
> UCI's next confirmed game is at LMU Thursday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.