Without a postseason to pursue and just two games remaining, the Washington men’s basketball team entered Wednesday’s road finale hoping to spoil USC’s bid to make the Big Ten tournament.
The Huskies were eliminated in their last outing and a win would have severely hampered the Trojans who were riding a five-game losing streak and tied for 15th in the standings – just above the cutoff line for the league tournament.
However, Washington flirted with an upset for a few minutes and threatened USC early in the second half before dropping their fifth straight game and falling 92-61 at Galen Center.
Junior guard Mehki Mason led UW (13-17, 4-15 in Big Ten) with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting while senior forward Great Osobor had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Senior guard DJ Davis, who tallied 13 points while starting in place of injured Tyler Harris (ankle), sank two of his four 3-pointers in the first five minutes, which temporarily put the Huskies on top.
Soon after, the Trojans took control while shooting 56.4% from the field and 57.7% on three-pointers (15 of 26).
Washington threw several defenses and an assortment of players at USC, including a 1-3-1 zone and a seldom-used oversized lineup that featured Osobor, center Franck Kepnang and backup forward Wilhelm Breidenbach.
Still, the Huskies were unable to slow down the Trojans, particularly when they frequently left Trojans forward Rashaun Agee alone on the perimeter and he drained four 3-pointers enroute to 18 points.
Agee isn’t a prolific perimeter shooter, but it was a curious defensive strategy considering he scored a career-high 29 points against Oregon in his last outing on Saturday.
“I wouldn’t say we didn’t play, USC shot 15 of 26 from 3,” coach Danny Sprinkle said. “They all got hot. We needed to dare them to make a couple of 3s early and they did so credit to USC.”
After 9½ minutes, Washington trailed 24-13 and Agee’s third 3-pointer put the Trojans up 27-15 and the Huskies never got closer than 10 points for the remainder of the first half.
Aside from Mason’s shot making, Osobor provided a rare Husky highlight when he drew a foul on Yates and sank three-pointer as time expired in the first half.
Still, USC led 47-35 at the break.
The Huskies cut their deficit to 54-46 with 15:36 left, but couldn’t get any closer while the Trojans extended their lead to 31 points (87-56) at the 4:33 mark.
In addition to Agee, Washington had difficulty containing Trojans guards Chibuzo Agbo and Desmond Claude who scored 26 and 25 points respectively. Agbo sank 7 of 10 three-pointers while Claude converted 2 of 6 behind the arc.
Washington has lost 11 straight to the USC (15-15, 7-12), which dates back to 2020.
In Sunday’s season finale, Washington hosts Oregon (22-8, 11-8), which won six straight games.
“Oregon is playing as well as anybody in the country,” Sprinkle said. “They have so much talent. We have to compete. We have to make some shots. We got to hope the ball bounces our way a couple of times. We got to fight.”
Note
• Davis’ streak of 30 straight free throws came to an end Wednesday night when he missed his first attempt late in the first half. He’s converted 46 of 50 at the line this season.
BOX SCORE
Percy Allen: pallen@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times staff reporter Percy Allen covers the Washington Huskies and Seattle Storm.