LOS ANGELES -- After opening the season with a disappointing double-digit loss at home to Mercer earlier this month, No. 22 USC has now run off six straight wins with tonight's 66-55 victory over Oklahoma in the inauguaral Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.
And despite what the scoreboard read when the final buzzer sounded here at the Galen Center, this game proved a much tougher test for the Trojans than it might have looked in the end.
But with a boisterous USC crowd on hand, Oklahoma couldn't put together a late run after getting as close as 39-36 with 12:37 remaining in the second half.
"I thought our crowd was outstanding tonight and our young guys really needed it," USC coach Tim Floyd said in his post-game press conference. "The students were unbelievable. I thought they were a huge difference overall, and we needed it when they started to close it in the second half."
While much of the talk after the game was centered on Davon Jefferson's assurgance over the last two games with a game-high 23 points against the Sooners, it was the defense that really clamped down and got several crucial stops down the stretch to pull away with less than six minutes remaining in the second half.
"We're continuining to do a few things well," Floyd continued. "We're making more free throws than the other team is attempting. We're continuing to defend and keep teams at 35 percent [from the floor] or below. And we're rebounding better."
Oklahoma, after all, has given its opponents trouble with a formidable frontcourt tandem in freshman Blake Griffin and senior Longar Longar, but those two pieces were very quiet tonight admist a crowd that was anything but quiet for all 40 minutes.
"They did not do anything that we didn't expect," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. "We have to figure out a way to make things work on defense especially. I thought USC did a good job of getting down deep and getting opportunities down by the post."
That certainly didn't happen for Griffin, who finished with four points and a team-high nine rebounds, or Longar, who managed to register only three points and two rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
The Trojans, meanwhile, looked to be well on their way to an easy win over the Sooners with an 11-point lead at halftime, but Capel's ball club turned things around early in the second half and gave USC a run for its money.
That is, until O.J. Mayo broke loose on the Sooners with about 10 minutes to go in the second half, as the freshman phenom tallied 16 of his 18 points after halftime to spur a late rally and secure the win for the Trojans.
"In the second half we started making some shots and getting in a rhythm," Capel explained about his team's resurgence in the second half. "You are not going to beat a team like USC when you score 18 points in the first half."
"O.J. let the game come to him," Floyd said. "He's a great talent."
And with sophomore forward Taj Gibson spending much of the game in foul trouble, Dwight Lewis also stepped up to finish with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor, but if the Trojans are looking to upset No. 4 Kansas Sunday afternoon when the Jayhawks make an appearance in Southern California, they'll need to not only shoot the ball better than tonight's 44.2-percent mark but also continue to dominate the glass after outrebounding Oklahoma by a solid 38-28 margin.
