By moving the ball and creating quality shots, Southern California cruised to one of its best wins in years.
Eric Wise scored 22 points to lead five Trojans in double figures, propelling USC to an 89-78 home victory over No. 11 Arizona on Wednesday night.
Southern California (13-15, 8-7 Pacific-12 Conference) shot 33-for-54 from the field, led by Wise’s 9-for-12 effort. Byron Wesley added 18 points, J.T. Terrell had 14, and Jio Fontan scored 12 with nine assists. Aaron Fuller also had 12 points.
It was USC’s first win over a ranked team since it beat then-No. 10 Arizona two years ago.
“It’s a tremendous victory for the team and for the program,” interim coach Bob Cantu said. “We played for 40 minutes, we got stops when we needed, and we shot the ball really, really well.”
Solomon Hill led Arizona (23-5, 11-5) with 21 points, and Kevin Parrom had 16. It was the Wildcats’ first loss to USC in five meetings.
“Our offense, although not perfect, we got to the foul line 30 times,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I think we had 13 turnovers, and although you would like to have less than that, it wasn’t really a problem.
“We had some 3s that didn’t go in, but when you look at this game, it was about our inability to stop USC. And you have to give USC a lot of credit; they made timely shots and big plays.”
USC led throughout the game, going up by as many as 10 points in the first half and increasing its lead to 13 in the second half. Arizona held an 18-16 lead midway through the first half, but the Trojans went on a 5-0 run to take the lead and never trailed again.
Wise was in the middle of things throughout, getting the Trojans off to a good start early and maintaining an aggressive mindset on offense.
“I wanted to come out and do good personally, because the last four or five games, I felt I haven’t really helped my team,” Wise said. “I wanted to come out strong, come out aggressive.”
Colorado 65, at Stanford 63: Andre Roberson scored a career-high 24 points and helped spark an 18-2 second-half run that propelled the Buffaloes (19-8, 9-6) past the Cardinal (16-13, 7-9).
Roberson, the leading rebounder in the country going into the night, had eight boards and finished 9-for-13 from the floor while helping Colorado complete a season sweep of Stanford after five straight losses in the series between the schools.
Andy Brown matched his career high with 17 points, and Chasson Randle scored 16 for Stanford.
At UCLA 79, Arizona State 74 (OT): Jordan Adams scored 22 points, Kyle Anderson had a career-high 21 points and 15 rebounds, and the Bruins (21-7, 11-4) held off the Sun Devils (20-9, ,9-7) to gain a share of the Pac-12 lead.
Adams scored six points in overtime, hitting a crucial layup when UCLA was clinging to a one-point lead. Evan Gordon and Jonathan Gilling both missed 3-pointers, and Adams grabbed the defensive rebound, got fouled and made both free throws with 26 seconds left.
Shabazz Muhammad added 21 points, and Larry Drew II had 13 assists for the Bruins.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.