Big Ten Tournament: Washington knocks out USC

CHICAGO — A USC men’s basketball season that started strong ended with more frustration.

Zoom Diallo had 22 points and 11 assists and scored the go-ahead basket in overtime as Washington defeated USC, 83-79, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday.

The 12th-seeded Huskies (16-16) advance to take on fifth-seeded Wisconsin (22-9) in a third-round game on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. PT.

Diallo scored 15 points over the second half and overtime despite staying on the court after picking up his fourth foul with nearly 13 minutes left in regulation. Quimari Peterson made five 3-pointers for his 15 points and former Trojan Wesley Yates III also scored 15. Hannes Steinbach, who scored 24 and 22 points in Washington’s two regular-season victories over the Trojans, finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Kam Woods scored 24 points with seven assists for 14th-seeded USC (18-14), which lost its eighth straight game. Jacob Cofie added 14 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Marsh had 13 points, and Ezra Ausar and Ryan Cornish each scored 10.

“In the first half, we played really well,” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “That’s been the story of our last eight games: We’ve started off really well … the biggest issue has been the second halves. We played good basketball, and we were in a good spot in the Big Ten standings and the NCAA bubble watch at that point. The last eight games have not been good, and it’s basically been the second halves that have hurt us.”

Diallo’s basket with 2:18 left in overtime gave the Huskies the lead and Peterson added a 3-pointer with a minute to go. Woods completed a three-point play to get the Trojans within 80-79 with 36 seconds left and forced a turnover by Diallo with 24.2 seconds left. But Woods missed on a drive and fouled Diallo, who made two free throws for an 82-79 lead with 11 seconds left. USC called a timeout with eight seconds remaining, but Marsh missed an awkward 3-point attempt and Hannes Steinbach made one of two free throws.

The Trojans took a 40-33 halftime lead as Cofie scored 12 points and Woods added 10. Washington’s Steinbach was held scoreless until making a putback with 7:48 left in the half.

USC led by as much as 13 points in the second half, then Washington went on a 20-4 run to move ahead 64-61 with six minutes left in regulation. Yates and Peterson made 3-pointers and Yates added a driving layup off a USC turnover to get within 58-52 with 12 minutes left. Yates tied it at 58 with a three-point play and Diallo scored on a tip-in with 9:01 left.

USC went 5:15 without a field goal until Marsh made a second-chance 3-pointer to give the Trojans a 61-60 lead with 8:43 to go.

Diallo’s 3-pointer with 4:25 remaining gave the Huskies a 69-65 lead, but USC responded with a dunk by Ausar and a turnaround jumper by Woods late in the shot clock, tying it with 3:08 left.

Ausar’s dunk put the Trojans up before Washington’s Courtland Muldrew rebounded his own miss and tied it with a putback with 59 seconds remaining. Diallo and Woods missed jumpers on their teams’ final possessions, with Woods missed a 15-footer from just left of the key with a second left, forcing overtime.

“When you look at our first-half defense, we held them to 36% [shooting],” Musselman said. “In the second half, from a field goal standpoint, they shot 41%. I thought with pick-and-rolls, there were a lot of breakdowns. I think the team followed what was asked of them, for the most part.”

Cofie acknowledged a season that included a Maui Invitational title back in November had its share of challenges, primarily injuries to key players.

“As a team, we faced a lot of adversity,” he said. “I think we did a good job of sticking together and staying with it. We had to deal with a lot of injuries this year, but we did our best.”