USC Defeats Drake In NCAA Tournament, Will Face Kansas Monday

LOS ANGELES, CA — USC defeated Drake, 72-56, Saturday in an NCAA men's basketball tournament first-round game thanks in large measure to fulfilling coach Andy Enfield's desire to take Joseph Yesufu "out of the game" in the second half.

Yesufu made six of 12 shots, including four of six 3-point shots, for 18 points in the first half when the Bulldogs were outscored, 40-37, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The 6-foot-2-inch sophomore guard made two of 10 shots, including two of five 3-point shots, for eight points in the second half when Drake was outscored 32-19.

"He was on fire in the first half," Enfield said. "Our goal was to take their best player out of the game in the second half and make everything tough and I thought we did a good job of switching man and zone and we made him work. I think he got tired."

When asked what the biggest differences between the first half and second half, Yesufu replied, "We got tired and their length really caught up to us in the zone. We just couldn't figure it out."

Drake (26-5) missed 21 of its first 23 shots in the second half. The Bulldogs made 19% of their second-half shots, seven of 37, while the Trojans made 12 of 26, 46%.

"That zone really bothered us," Drake coach Darian DeVries said. "That length was hard for us to get in the interior and finish. We were trying to get it inside to anywhere around the rim where we could get some scores or some easy baskets.

"They're extremely long and we couldn't get to the spots we wanted to and finish over them. We weren't able to get maybe as clean of looks as we would have liked on the threes against the zone."

The Bulldogs were playing for the second time in three days. They defeated Wichita State 53-52 Thursday in a First Four game, their first tournament victory since March 18, 1971, when they defeated Notre Dame, 79-72, in a Midwest Region semifinal.

"We certainly got fatigued in that second half a little bit," DeVries said.

USC was playing for the first time since March 12 when it lost a semifinal game in the Pac-12 Tournament to Colorado 72-70.

The Trojans dominated the inside, outscoring Drake, 42-16, in the paint.

USC 7-foot freshman forward Evan Mobley scored 17 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and his older brother Isaiah, a 6-foot-11-inch sophomore forward, scored 15, 11 in the second half.

Isaiah Mobley played just nine minutes in the first half. He was called for his second foul nine minutes, 22 seconds before halftime and did not play for the remainder of the half.

The teams exchanged 3-point baskets to begin the second half, then the Trojans scored eight unanswered points to take a 51-40 lead with 14:50 to play.

The Bulldogs last cut the deficit to single digits when Yesufu made a 3-point basket with 6:35 left to cut USC's lead to 57-50.

The Trojans scored the next eight points on 3-point baskets by Drew Peterson and Tahj Eaddy and two free throws by Isaiah Mobley to take a 65-50 lead with 4:35 remaining. USC led by at least 13 for the rest of the game.

"I thought our guys really kept their composure the entire game," said Enfield, whose team had only one player -- Wofford transfer Chevez Goodwin -- play in an NCAA Tournament game before Saturday. The 6-foot-9-inch forward had four points and three rebounds in 17 minutes Saturday.

"We limited our turnovers. We had a lot of assists. We made some big shots and I think we defended at a very high level."

The Trojans had 20 assists, including a season-high 10 by Eaddy, and nine turnovers. USC was out-rebounded 39-35, but led 26-22 in defensive rebounds. The Trojans are 88-5 in their last 93 games when holding the opposition to under 70 points dating back to Feb. 28, 2015, including an 18-2 record this season.

Peterson added 14 points as USC (23-7) advanced to the second round for the first time since 2017, its most recent tournament appearance. Eaddy had a game-best plus-20 plus-minus, with the Trojans outscoring Drake by 20 in his 33 minutes on the court.

Yesufu scored a game-high 26, the only Bulldog with more than six points.

USC, which is seeded sixth in the West Region, five spots higher than Drake, will next play Monday, facing third-seeded Kansas, a 93-84 winner over 14th-seeded Eastern Washington earlier Saturday, again at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

—City News Service