USC can’t keep up with Michigan State in first-round NCAA tournament loss

A season spent climbing back from the brink, scratching and clawing its way from one week to the next, had given USC every reason to believe it could survive whatever setback or obstacle might present itself. But months of perfecting that approach would only carry it so far into March, as USC fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.

This time, there would be no answer for Michigan State’s balanced attack and no bouncing back for USC’s uneven one. This time, as Kobe Johnson fired off one late 3 after another, as Boogie Ellis tried to find his footing, as Drew Peterson tried desperately to keep USC together, there was no use. This time, USC never emerged from the hole it had dug for itself, falling to the Spartans, 72-62.

It was hardly the tournament experience the Trojans had hoped for in its third trip in as many years. Only once during those three seasons had USC ever advanced past the first game.

This trip would be done in, rather unexpectedly, by USC’s defense.

USC made no effort this week to hide its plans against Michigan State. It prepared all week to run Michigan State off the 3-point line, where the Spartans ranked among the most prolific offenses in college basketball, capable of burying any offense, let alone one prone to extended lulls.

What USC hadn’t counted on was Michigan State attacking from the inside while it crowded the arc. The Spartans would hit just 5 of 14 from long range, but they would add 32 points in the paint, among the most scored against USC inside all season.