College Basketball: USC ends 14-game road losing streak, defeating Utah

SALT LAKE CITY - Seven-footer Dewayne Dedmon swooped in so fast, the Utah Utes probably didn't know what hit them.

Dedmon's put-back dunk off a missed free throw with 9:51 to play showed how badly USC wanted this one after losing four consecutive games on the road this season and 14 in a row dating to last season.

Dedmon's 13 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks helped USC defeat Utah 76-59 on Saturday.

It was the Trojans' first Pac-12 road victory in 22 months as USC improved to 7-10 overall and 2-2 in conference.

"I was just ready," Dedmon said. "I had a twitch in the leg, so I just had to go and get it and I threw it down."

The dunk came in the midst of a 7-0 USC run that bumped the Trojans' lead to 15 points. Utah got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"Tonight, we played hard for the full 40 minutes," said guard J.T. Terrell, who led the Trojans with 14 points. "I made shots and my teammates were looking for me and found me when I was open."

Terrell shot 5 of 10 overall, with a pair of 3-pointers.

"Coach has challenged me," Terrell said. "He wants me to take straight-line drives, not play with the ball so much, take good shots and lock up on the defensive end. Today, I felt I did all that.

"If we played every game like this, we have a good chance to do something big."

The Utes (8-8, 0-4) were within 50-42 on DuBois' 3-pointer with 10:26 remaining before USC's 7-0 run, which

included a steal and fast-break layup by Terrell, then two free throws by Terrell after a technical foul on the Utah bench gave USC a 57-42 lead.

"We have not had guard scoring all year. J.T. and Jio (Fontan) have struggled, and there's no secret about that," USC coach Kevin O'Neill said.

Terrell came off the bench in the second half in a six-point loss to Colorado on Thursday.

"It's plain and simple, but it's taken 17 games to get it through his thick skull that if you don't guard your man and you take bad shots then I'm not going to play you," O'Neill said. "But today he played well and played very much in control and played well defensively.

"Hopefully he is making some strides."

USC's road losing streak dated to last season, when the Trojans dropped their final 10 as visitors. The road win was the Trojans' first since Nov. 10, 2011, at UC Riverside. Their last Pac-12 road win was on March 5, 2011, at Washington.

The Trojans were coming off a 66-60 loss at Colorado on Thursday in which they were outscored 24-6 over the final 10 minutes of the first half. This time, they closed the first half strong to take a 32-23 lead into the break.

Utah led 21-19 on a jumper by Jarred DuBois with 5:12 left in the first half, only to see the Trojans close on a 13-2 run fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers by Terrell.

The Trojans shot 50 percent from the field and held a 39-30 edge in rebounding and an 11-7 advantage on second-chance points.

They also got help off the bench, with Omar Oraby adding eight points and four rebounds. He left for a while in the second half after injuring his ankle, but returned.

"We played too tough a schedule early on and that cost us some confidence," O'Neill said of what he called his "team of misfits."

"Hopefully this is a sign of things starting to come together."

Utah, meanwhile, continues to look for its first Pac-12 win of the season. The Utes had dropped their first three conference games by a combined eight points, and their seven losses overall by a total of 26 points.

"I thought we got manhandled, for the most part," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said.

Source: http://www.sgvtribune.com/usc/ci_22364638/college-basketball-usc-ends-14-game-road-losing?source=rss

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