USC men’s basketball takes care of Washington to wrap up regular season

Daily Trojan

Behind a strong performance from junior guard Jordan McLaughlin, the men’s basketball team defeated Washington 74-58 on Saturday to wrap up their regular season.The Huskies entered the Galen Center without their multi-dimensional point guard in freshman Markelle Fultz, the Pac-12 scoring leader and projected No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. Nevertheless, the Huskies roared early, running their offense through sophomore Noah Dickerson who scored 15 of Washington’s 33 first half points.
They leapt to an early 10-point lead before McLaughlin’s play on both sides of the court woke the Trojans from sleep mode en route to a 39-33 halftime lead. While the second half wasn’t always pretty, the Trojans never relinquished their lead to win by a final score of 74-58.
McLaughlin capped off his greatest week of the season with a performance of 22 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. He thinks he is peaking now.
“It’s March. You’ve got to play your best basketball. The higher the stakes, the better I perform, I feel,” McLaughlin said.
With a stagnant offense out of the gates, McLaughlin hit two big threes and made a couple key passes to get sophomore forward Chimezie Metu involved in the game. Then, with 2:21 seconds left in the game, McLaughlin connected with Metu once more for a fierceful slam that rattled the basket and killed the Huskies’ energy.
“Chimezie is a great weapon for our team, especially with me running the point off a pick-and-roll,” McLaughlin said. “All you have to do is throw the ball up by the rim, and he’ll go get it. He may not finish it, but he’ll bring it back down. He’s a great passer, too. And in open space, he can handle, pass it and shoot better than he did last year.”
After Metu’s emphatic slam gave the Trojans a 67-55 lead, ...

Read more