Southern California opened both halves with big runs en route to a 79-42 blowout of Stanford on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
USC (20-6, 14-5 Pac-12 Conference) held Stanford scoreless for 8:06 in the first half and without a field goal for 9:30. The Trojans built a 17-point lead in that stretch and pushed the advantage to as many as 22 points before intermission.
After giving up the first two points of the second half, the Trojans responded with a 14-0 run that extended their lead to 31 points.
Tahj Eaddy and Drew Peterson alternated on four consecutive 3-pointers to fuel the second-half-opening run. Eaddy finished with a game-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc.
Peterson played a strong all-around game, posting 15 points and game highs of nine rebounds and six assists. He also came away with two steals.
Isaiah White made three steals in just nine minutes to help a dominant USC defense. The Trojans held the Cardinal to just 25.4 percent shooting, aided in part by five blocked shots.
USC's Evan Mobley added 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Chevez Goodwin scored all eight of his points in the first half, going 4 of 4 from the field before halftime. He finished 4 of 6 for the night.
Stanford (14-12, 10-10), playing its third consecutive game without leading scorer Oscar da Silva (foot), ended its regular season on a four-game losing streak.
No Cardinal player scored in double figures. Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel were Stanford's leading scorers with nine points each. Jaiden Delaire scored six points, grabbed eight rebounds and made two steals.
USC closes the regular season at rival UCLA (17-7, 13-5) on Saturday. Both teams remain in the hunt for at least a share of the Pac-12 regular-season championship, but the Saturday winner needs Oregon (18-5, 13-4) to lose at Oregon State on Sunday.
--Field Level Media
Stanford | Southern California | |
Brandon Angel 9 | Scoring | Tahj Eaddy 16 |
Max Murrell 2 | Assists | Drew Peterson 6 |
Jaiden Delaire 8 | Rebounds | Drew Peterson 9 |
Spencer Jones 2 | Free Throws Made | Isaiah Mobley 5 |
Jaiden Delaire 2 | Steals | Isaiah White 3 |
Max Murrell 1 | Blocks | Evan Mobley 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Stanford | 42 | 25.4 | 6-25 | 6-8 | 8 | 27 | 1 | 8 | 16 |
Southern California | 79 | 52.5 | 9-24 | 8-13 | 21 | 44 | 5 | 7 | 15 |