Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Stanford’s sloppy play in the first half allowed USC to keep hanging close until Chasson Randle finally decided he had enough of that and helped put away the pesky Trojans with some clutch 3-point shooting.
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Stanford’s sloppy play in the first half allowed USC to keep hanging close until Chasson Randle finally decided he had enough of that and helped put away the pesky Trojans with some clutch 3-point shooting.
Randle made all four of his shots from behind the arc in the second half to finish with 16 points and Stanford beat USC 59-47 on Sunday, completing its first season sweep of the Trojans since 2005.
“I’m pretty confident and I feel like I’m a pretty good shooter from there, so I’m going to take my looks when they’re there,” Randle said. “Today my teammates found me in the right spots.”
Josh Owens added 15 points for Stanford (17-8, 7-6 Pac-12). The Cardinal had lost five of their previous six after a 15-3 start that included a 51-43 win over USC on Dec. 31 at home.
“It’s coming,” coach Johnny Dawkins said after his team outrebounded USC 45-19. “I mean, we’ve been in a tough stretch and they’ve had to battle through that and fight out of it. And I think that’s what you see happening now. I have a lot of confidence in our guys, and I know they’ll continue to battle.”
Sophomore Andy Brown hit a 3-pointer midway through the first half to give Stanford a 15-11 lead, the biggest by either team until the Cardinal opened the second half with an 8-0 run that gave them a 28-18 advantage with 17:27 left in the game.
The Trojans went 12 minutes and 43 seconds without a field goal until Garrett Jackson turned a short hook shot into a three-point play that cut Stanford’s lead to 30-24 with 14:27 left. Greg Allen cut the deficit to four on another 3-pointer with 12:26 remaining, and Maurice Jones got USC within 35-33 on a fast-break layup about 1 1-2 minutes later.
But Stanford responded with an 11-0 run ignited by Owens’ dunk, and Randle added back-to-back 3-pointers 33 seconds apart.
“We just made shots, plain and simple,” Randle said. “We just told each other at halftime to hang in because we had a big second half ahead. We went on big runs a couple of times and played good defense.”
USC (6-20, 1-12) got no closer than nine points the rest of the way. Alexis Moore’s 3-pointer with 7:32 remaining snapped a personal drought of 14 consecutive missed shots from behind the arc, but Randle made a breakaway layup off his steal of Jones before Andrew Zimmerman added a layup and Randle drained another 3-pointer to give Stanford a 59-39 lead with 3:08 left.
“They came out making shots and we came out flat on defense, and I think that was ultimately what killed us,” USC guard Byron Wesley said. “We got some good shots at the start of the half but we just weren’t making them.”
Owens shot 6 for 8 in 34 minutes, helping Stanford end a six-game road skid against USC.
Allen had 13 points for USC. Wesley scored 10 of the Trojans’ first 13 points, but had only three more the rest of the way and finished 6 for 15 from the field in 37 minutes.
No. 12 Georgetown 71
St. John’s 61
WASHINGTON — Freshman Greg Whittington scored a career-high 12 points, and No. 12 Georgetown hit clutch 3-pointers down the stretch in a 71-61 win over St. John’s on Sunday.
Whittington, Jason Clark and Markel Starks all hit 3s in the final 6 minutes to counter the Red Storm’s momentum in a game in which Georgetown never trailed — but also never led by double digits until the final 5 seconds.
Nate Lubick finished with seven points, eight rebounds, five assists and a career-high four blocks for the Hoyas (19-5, 9-4), who shot 61 percent in the second half and moved into sole possession of fourth place in the Big East.
D’Angelo Harrison scored 24 points, and Moe Harkless had 20 for the Red Storm (10-15, 4-9), who fell to a nation’s-worst 0-10 against Top 25 teams.
No. 22 Michigan 70
Illinois 61
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points and Evan Smotrycz added 13 as Michigan remained unbeaten at home.
Trey Burke added 14 points for the Wolverines (19-7, 9-4 Big Ten), but it was Smotrycz and Hardaway who provided a big lift by shaking off their shooting slumps in the first half. Hardaway entered the game shooting 19 percent from 3-point range in conference play. Smotrycz wasn’t much better at 24 percent, but they both went 2 for 2 from beyond the arc before halftime.
Brandon Paul had 21 points and Tyler Griffey added 18 for Illinois (16-9, 5-7), which has lost six of seven.
