The USC women’s basketball team is back to the drawing board, in a way. The Trojans beat No. 9 NC State in their second game of the season, but on Friday, they were on the receiving end of an upset when No. 24 Notre Dame took them down. The Trojans’ talent made them a good matchup with the Irish on paper, but Hannah Hidalgo frustrated the Trojan defense into a rivalry loss for the second straight season.
But now, after a grueling early season stretch including two cross country trips and three ranked matchups in 5 games, USC has a six game homestand at Galen Center to straighten some things out. For an inexperienced team, that is very valuable.
How will the Trojans grow against Tennessee Tech? Follow along with all the live updates, analysis, highlights and stats from Trojans Wire writer Ethan Inman as the Trojans take on the Golden Eagles:
USC 82, Tennessee Tech 44 1:14 4th quarter
Here’s a lineup you’ll rarely see at USC: Brooklyn Shamblin, Rian Forestier, Laura Williams, Yakiya Milton and Dayana Mendes. They are sharing the floor for USC right now.
USC 74, Tennessee Tech 36 — 6:02 4th quarter
It’s been a great quarter for Yayika Milton, who is getting it done on both ends of the floor. It’s also fun to see Rian Forestier get some extended minutes for the Trojans — she seems like such a bubbly and encouraging personality on the court.
The Trojans are pulling away with this one as expected.
USC 64, Tennessee Tech 34 — End of 3rd quarter
Rian Forestier has already seen some game action — and knocked down a three — for the Trojans.
Also, an unsung hero for the Trojans tonight is Vivian Iwuchukwu, who has 9 points on 4-5 shooting, third best on the team.
A good team-wide trend: no one on the team has more than 2 turnovers after the giveaway-filled mess that was USC’s loss to Notre Dame.
USC 51, Tennessee Tech 23 — 4:59 3rd quarter
USC just ran one of my favorite plays of the night thus far. Gerda Raulusaityte caught the ball at the top of the three point arc, then turned and thew it in to a posting-up Davidson who caught the ball over her shoulder and scored the easy bucket. It was an impressive pass by Raulusaityte and the kind of creative plays you can run against opponents from smaller conferences.
USC 44, Tennessee Tech 19 — Halftime
Jazzy Davidson is putting on a show for the Trojan fans who made the trek out to Galen Center on this Tuesday night. Davidson has 14 points and 9 rebounds already, and she has done it on 6-9 shooting and 2-4 from three point range.
Laura Williams impressed on the defensive end, recording 3 blocks in just 4 minutes. Londynn Jones is having a very nice bounce back game with 10 points on 4-6 shooting including 2-2 from three.
USC is still inexplicably struggling to rebound; the Trojans have allowed the Golden Eagles to hit the offensive glass a whopping 11 times in the first half.
And Kennedy Smith is struggling to shoot the ball again. She is only 2-8 from the field. She did make a nice shot off the dribble right before the halftime buzzer, so maybe that will spark a big second half from her. She could really use an efficient game shooting the basketball; she hasn’t had one yet this season. Smith was expected to be an offensive leader for the Trojans in JuJu Watkins’ absence and so far, she hasn’t stepped up her offensive game from last season.
USC 26, Tennessee Tech 8 — 8:07 2nd quarter
Jazzy Davidson is already on double-double watch with 9 points and 7 rebounds. The Trojans are shooting 45% from the field and holding the Golden Eagles to 19% shooting. If there’s one trend Lindsay Gottlieb isn’t pleased with at this point, it’s likely that the Trojans have allowed Tennessee Tech to grab 4 offensive rebounds. The Trojans are significantly bigger than the Golden Eagles, so if they can’t keep them off the offensive glass, that spells disaster for teams USC has a size disadvantage against.
USC 22, Tennessee Tech 8 — End of 1st quarter
It looks like Lindsay Gottlieb designed tonight’s offensive game plan as a get-right game for everybody. Vivian Iwuchukwu and Gerda Raulusaityte each have taken 2 shots early, both Kennedy Smith and Londynn Jones have taken and made early 3 pointers. Hopefully we see an efficient shooting percentage from Smith tonight, seeing some shots go in could be really big for her confidence moving forward.
USC 11, Tennessee Tech 6 — 3:35 1st quarter
USC led 11-0, and then the Golden Eagles came back and scored 6 straight. Lindsay Gottlieb decided she’d seen enough and called timeout after USC surrendered a bucket off an offensive rebound and then a fast break bucket with no Trojans getting back on defense fast enough.
Londynn Jones has an early bucket, which is great to see after she was held scoreless at Notre Dame.
USC 7, Tennessee Tech 0 — 7:01 1st quarter
Jazzy Davidson has all 7 of USC’s early points including a three pointer which is great to see from the freshman who has struggled to shoot from beyond the arc early in her career.
It’s been a bit of a messy game otherwise though: everyone not named Davidson in a USC uniform is 0-3.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC women’s basketball vs Tennessee Tech — live updates, analysis
Reporting by Ethan Inman, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
