Saint Thomas Wait his hands, throwing the towel while heading for the free throw line. Eighty-six seconds stayed at the last meeting of the Crosstown confrontation-a game which, in recent memory, lent itself to end-of-game heroic on this very hard wood. USC had won five of the six here UCLAAnd so the set of Galen Center is full of anxious delirium, expecting more magic of rivalry.
Thomas had just reduced a pivot rebound in traffic to the other end, attracting a fault which could finally put the USC in front of the UCLA after an entire night passed to claw for this purpose. Right now, the senior attacker roared towards the arena chevrons, his two hands clenched with fists. But now, Thomas stood with his right toe on the band, knowing himself for two of the greatest free throws of the USC season to date. He took a deep inspiration.
His first franc throw went for a long time, unleashed with the rear iron. Thomas took another deep inspiration. Then the second shook.
Less than 30 seconds later, Sebastian Mack of the UCLA Let a dagger fly from afar, and the horses of Troy, as a result of A loss of 82-76 against rivalswere left to wonder where they could be with a few more successful free throws.
Find out more: The late heroism of Sebastian Mack helps Ucla Edge USC and prolongs his victories sequence
After a second consecutive match spoiled by a bad line shot, USC coach Eric Musselman did not mock the words. He called it “a huge problem”.
“We had two home games where we did not convert to a fairly good rate. I don’t know any other to do, ”said Musselman. “I’m not going to wave a magic wand and change that.”
After only shooting 11 out of 17 from the line in his last Home loss against WisconsinUSC had 11 out of 19 on Monday. Trojan horses missed seven free throws in the second half against the UCLA, including five in the last five minutes and more. And while the pair of Miss de Thomas came at the most consecutive moment, a trio of other Trojan horses had their chances in the previous moments. Rashaun Agee missed a critic and one with 5:13 to play. SO, Desmond Claude I missed the back of a pair at 3:31.
First -year guard Wesley Yates Also would have a shot to equalize the match, only one possession before Thomas. But his first franc throw was short, a miss that lingered with him after the match.
“I work on free throws every day, so it’s pretty frustrating for me,” said Yates. “I try to get at least 100 brands in one day. Ten free throws in a row, 10 times. I just have to be more concentrated, I have to intensify, I have to be mature enough to do it in every game. “”
Part of the problem, in the Musselman estimate, is that the USC simply does not draw the number of faults to which the coach is used. In the past five of his last six seasons as a coach, the Musselman teams have ranked among the first 31 of university basketball in frank rate.
These calls, as the USC coach sees it, did not come as often in Big Ten.
“Our team – not now, not this year, but like the last 11 years – we have put pressure on the rim, and we are one of the highest teams in the country’s free throws,” said Musselman. “So you enter the match and say:” Discover basketball, it’s a high -blow team, a really physical team. “All these questions and stuff, and one of the most confusing is how to take only 19 shots?”
Without the whistles they hoped, the Trojan horses turned to the three -point line early. This approach worked very well for a while, because USC was kept afloat with seven three first three years. Trojan horses made 31 attempts in three points in total, their major part of the season. But the USC hit a single long -term shot in the last 10 minutes of the match.
The Trojan horses would rather count on the large, undersized man to transport them to the finish line. Agee scored 11 points in the last 13 minutes on the way to a career summit of 21.
But his efforts were not enough, not while the USC left five free points on the table in the last minutes.
“You can’t get every time,” said Agee. “But what we are going to do is that we are going to enter the gymnasium tomorrow, and we will do exactly what we are always doing. We will work on our game, we will strengthen confidence, and the next game we will do them. “”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
