Short-handed No. 16 USC falls at home to a veteran UC Irvine squad

He hadn’t made a three-pointer all night. But Devin Tillis hit the shot when it counted.

The UC Irvine forward hit a game-clinching three with 37.4 seconds remaining to seal the Anteaters’ 70-60 upset of No. 16 USC at Galen Center on Tuesday night. It was Irvine’s first win over USC since 2012 and avenged a narrow 66-61 loss to the Trojans in 2021.

“We played well enough in that game two years ago to win, but we didn’t rebound well enough,” Irvine coach Russell Turner said. “I felt like the fight, the effort and physicality that we showed against a bigger, more athletic team was winning stuff.”

Irvine (2-1) overcame career highs from USC freshman Isaiah Collier (23 points) and junior Harrison Hornery (17 points) with a starring performance from Anteaters redshirt senior guard Justin Hohn, who poured in a career-best 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Tillis finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

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USC was without senior guard Boogie Ellis, who missed the game because of a sprained right ankle. Forward Kobe Johnson also missed a second consecutive game because of left knee discomfort. Even Collier was limited in practice this week after banging knees in USC’s win over Cal State Bakersfield last Thursday, and he didn’t practice until a short session Monday.

The limited numbers led to “probably the worst week” of practice the Trojans have had in years, coach Andy Enfield said. It was appropriate foreshadowing for Tuesday’s offensive debacle that featured USC shooting 28.8% from the field while turning the ball over 16 times.

“We deserve to lose this game by the way we played — offensively especially,” Enfield said. “It’s frustrating, I know our players are very upset, but it’s on me. I gotta figure out, even though we’re short-handed, figure out how to have better practices and obviously how to execute better offensively during the game.”

In Ellis’ absence, USC’s youth was glaring compared to Irvine’s experience. The Anteaters started five upperclassmen, the youngest being junior center Bent Leuchten, who started 26 games last year and finished with 19 points and six rebounds Tuesday. Irvine returned three starters from last year’s team that upset then-No. 21 Oregon in Eugene on Nov. 11, 2022, and won the Big West.

The cohesion showed as Irvine shook off an ugly first half to start the second on a 7-0 run. The Trojans, who had just one returning upperclassman in the starting lineup with Ellis injured, were forced to call a timeout as the Anteaters’ lead ballooned to 10.

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USC’s early-season growing pains were evident in several of Collier’s seven turnovers. He fired a pass out of bounds with 12:14 remaining in the second half with the Trojans trailing by six points and immediately signaled to Joshua Morgan that he should have run the wide-open baseline in the situation. The teammates remained out of sync in crunch time. With USC trailing by three with less than two minutes remaining, Collier zipped the ball to Morgan under the basket and it slipped through the forward’s hands.

“They were just a better team tonight,” Collier said. “I feel like we beat ourselves on a lot of mistakes but I mean, we’re going to build and grow from it.”

USC’s 16 turnovers were just one fewer than their number of field goals. Hornery, who was four for nine from three-point range, was the only Trojan to make a three as his teammates missed 12 shots from deep.

Enfield touted the team’s scoring depth after USC’s win over Bakersfield, but the same players he celebrated struggled Tuesday. Sophomore Oziyah Sellers was one for 11 for four points while transfer forward DJ Rodman was 0 for 8.