Southern California overcame another sluggish start to remain unbeaten with a 79-67 victory over visiting Cornell on Monday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Chimezie Metu had 17 points and six rebounds for No. 23 USC (11-0), which is enjoying its best start since going 16-0 to begin the 1970-71 season. Jordan McLaughlin added 16 points and nine assists.

Stone Gettings scored 22 points for Cornell (2-7), which lost for the fourth time in five games. Robert Hatter had 20 points, Matt Morgan finished with 15.

USC fell behind by 10 in the opening minutes. The Trojans rallied to grab a narrow halftime lead and never trailed in the second period, but the game remained close until the middle of the second half.

It was the sixth time the Trojans came back to win this season after trailing by nine points or more.

"We're streaky," USC coach Andy Enfield said. "We've been down in five or six games by nine or 10 points, and we've come back. We're 11-0. I have no idea how we're 11-0, but we are."

The Trojans figured to be highly motivated after they had to rally past Troy to keep their perfect record intact Saturday night. Instead, they endured another slow start.

"We're a really good team collectively," McLaughlin said. "We have to stop getting off to slow starts. We have to have focus and energy off the bat."

The Big Red took an 11-6 lead on a 3-pointer by Hatter and went up 16-6 on a jumper by Gettings. USC later mounted a 9-0 run to tie the game on a dunk by Charles Buggs.

The Big Red reclaimed the lead on another 3-pointer by Hatter, but the Trojans carried a 37-34 advantage into the break after Elijah Stewart hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds to play in the half.

That was Stewart's first basket. Stewart finished with six points on 2-of-10 shooting, but he grabbed eight rebounds and recorded four of the team's 10 blocked shots.

USC shot over 48 percent in the first half but made just 3 of 11 from 3-point range. Cornell shot less than 42 percent but made 7 of 14 from beyond the arc.

The Trojans took a 45-39 lead on a basket by Nick Rakocevic early in the second half. They eventually stretched the lead to 10 on a jumper by Shaqquan Aaron and led by as many as 14 in the final minutes.

"Give a lot of credit to USC," Cornell coach Brian Earl said. "We had a game plan that was working for the most part, but they have some very talented, fundamentally sound players, and it was difficult to compete for that long and sustain certain possessions. USC made some tough shots down the stretch that we hoped they would miss."

USC shot 48.4 percent from the field overall. The Trojans made 6 of 18 from long distance while allowing the Big Red to bury 12 3-pointers, but USC amassed a huge 43-28 rebounding advantage.

"We played solid basketball, but we missed some easy shots," Enfield said. "Cornell made a lot of threes and kept the game close. Other than missing easy shots, I thought we played well."

NOTES: USC is one of six unbeaten Division I teams. ... USC set a school record with 14 blocked shots in a win over Pepperdine on Dec. 11. The Trojans, who are seventh in the nation with 6.7 blocks per game, followed that effort with nine blocked shots against Troy on Saturday and 10 against Cornell. ... The Big Red were playing their second game in three days after being idle for 17 days.