LOS ANGELES — The calamity of errors compounded, their tournament bubble-status threatening to pop. A Saint Thomas hook nicked softly off rim. A Desmond Claude floater hit nothing but air, the basket seeming to shrink in this fourth quarter against Minnesota. And with seven minutes left, an inbound pass somehow trickled away from USC and into the hands of Minnesota, a tip-in dunk suddenly flipping a longtime USC lead.
Exasperated, Eric Musselman signaled for a timeout.
For weeks, they had known the stakes. There was no looking ahead in the Big Ten, where individual games were gauntlets themselves inside this gauntlet of a conference schedule, and their margin of error was slim: a mixed bag of results providing slim chances at a path to the NCAA Tournament.
But it was possible. What USC couldn’t afford, though, was a loss to a lesser Big Ten foe, and Musselman’s whistle seemed to temporarily stop the bleeding.
And then that calamity of errors turned nothing less than disastrous, in a final minute that’ll sting Musselman for months in a matchup with late father Bill’s old program, the afternoon slipping into a 66-63 loss for USC – and the Trojans’ tournament chances potentially slipping with it.
With 23 seconds left and USC still clinging to a one-point lead after a tip-in by Minnesota’s Frank Mitchell, Claude dribbled upcourt, only for what appeared to be an inadvertent whistle by referees stopped play. Amid the stoppage, Musselman subbed in backup point guard Clark Slajchert. Off the second inbound, Minnesota blitzed Slajchert, the ball squibbing away from his hands.
Seven seconds of clock later, Chibuzo Agbo Jr. was called for a foul, holding his hands to his head in sheer incredulousness before Minnesota drained two free throws for a lead.
Ten seconds later, a tipped pass by Claude was ruled Minnesota ball.
Three seconds later, Wesley Yates III’s attempt at a full-court heave to tie ended with him spilling to the hardwood as the buzzer sounded. Musselman, agitated, barked at referees on their way off the floor. Players tugged white jerseys up from their shorts in anguish. Yates took his anger out on a chair, smacking the bench, the redshirt freshman guard dropping 18 points and three threes to little avail.
The loss drops USC to 14-11 and 6-8 in Big Ten play, with just six regular-season games remaining.
USC came out scrappy Saturday afternoon, effort and energy and enthusiasm in spades against the Golden Gophers (13-12, 5-9). His father played zone defense; Musselman played man, and his bench roared for perimeter defenders to close out on shooters, USC holding Minnesota around 30% shooting from the floor for much of the first half.
Explosive guard Yates spilled to the deck on a chase for a loose ball, took some ill-advised shots, and made some well-advised shots in a 10-point first half. Expressive forward Thomas hit the “too small” gesture on Minnesota forward Dawson Garcia after a short jumper to put USC up 33-20. A referee told Musselman, after one foul call, to calm down. The greatest hits played, on repeat, sewer-rat moments piling up on the hardwood at Galen.
USC was flat out of the break, though, their interior defense sagging and a run of hot 3-point-shooting cooling with an 0-for-4 start from deep in the second half. And Minnesota, a scrappy program that had knocked off ranked Michigan and Oregon in January, slowly whittled away at a one-time 13-point USC lead.
A top-of-the-key triple by Agbo seemed to give USC some breathing room, up 52-44 with 10:31 left. Three minutes later, though, a Minnesota three and layup and tip-jam – after a miscommunication on a USC inbounds pass – gave the Golden Gophers a sudden lead, and an exasperated Musselman signaled for a timeout.
The Golden Gophers’ Lu’cye Patterson, continuing a season-long trend of high-volume guards giving USC’s defense trouble, buried a three to put Minnesota up four with 5:46 left. Agee, yo-yoed all season between the center and outskirts of USC’s rotation, gave the Trojans a massive stretch run. A nifty Euro-step layup and top-of-the-key bomb answered Golden Gophers buckets; a massive offensive rebound and pass to Yates for a triple with three minutes left gave USC a three-point lead.
But Mitchell’s tip brought on a minute of horrid luck and execution for USC, a gut-wrenching end to a game. And, possibly, a season.