By MICHAEL LEV / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LOS ANGELES ? A group of Marines who were guests of the school attended USC coach Kevin O'Neill's postgame news conference and posed for pictures with him afterward.
You could definitely sum up this season as "The Few, the Proud, the Trojans."
USC's ever-shrinking roster but never-ceasing effort were on display one last time at Galen Center in the regular-season finale Saturday. USC rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit against Washington State and had a chance to tie in the final minute. However, as has been the case all season, the shot didn't fall but the Trojans did.
The 43-38 loss was USC's ninth in a row and dropped the Trojans to 6-25, 1-17 in the Pac-12. USC has one more chance to salvage something from the worst season in school history when it meets UCLA in the 12-vs.-5 matchup in the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday. The Bruins swept the two regular-season meetings, winning by an average of 14.5 points.
"UCLA is very good basketball team playing for its NCAA Tournament life. We all are," O'Neill said. "Their chances are better than ours, obviously.
"We need to play with the heart we showed in the last 10 minutes."
USC lost Saturday despite holding Washington State (15-15, 7-11) without a field goal for the final 9:09. During that time, the Trojans trimmed a 15-point deficit to three. Greg Allen had an open 3-point attempt to tie the score with 36 seconds left, but the shot came up short. Washington State's Reggie Moore made two free throws at the other end, and neither team scored again.
"We had our chances," O'Neill said. "It's the story of our year. Shot-making kills us."
The worst shooting team in the Pac-12 shot like it Saturday, making only 28.9 percent of its field-goal attempts (remarkably, not a season low). USC did not score its first basket until the 12:52 mark of the first half. No Trojan other than Maurice Jones (team-high 11 points) scored until 5:43 remained in the half.
USC was just as flat to start the second half, allowing Washington State big man Brock Motum to almost single-handedly expand the Cougars' seven-point halftime deficit to 17. The 6-10 Motum scored 13 consecutive WSU points to start the half and finished with a game-high 27.
UCLA has four players who are 6-10; injury-ravaged USC is down to just one who's over 6-7. The Bruins used their size to dominate the paint in both meetings.
USC actually outscored UCLA in the second half the last time they played, on Feb. 15, but the Trojans trailed by double digits for the final 31:11.
"We kind of fought back toward the end and chipped away at it," USC forward Garrett Jackson said. "We've got to jump on them early. We can't let it get like that. We don't want to be fighting an uphill battle the whole game."
These Trojans are used to it. They've been fighting that battle the whole season.
NOTES
USC honored one player, walk-on Eric Strangis, and two student managers during its pregame senior-day ceremony. Strangis made his fourth start of the season.
Contact the writer: mlev@ocregister.com
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