USC women’s basketball continues to defy odds with crunch-time defense
The USC Trojans women’s basketball team has done some special things this season, but just when you think this team’s defense can’t get any better, it does.
The Trojans have played a game of “can you top this?” in 2023. They set the bar really high on defense and then manage to climb even higher.
On January 22 in Seattle, USC got into overtime against Washington. The Trojans improbably shut out the Huskies in the five-minute extra period. How many times will a team not allow a single point in an OT game? It might be the kind of thing a team can accomplish once every 10 to 15 years. It just doesn’t happen often. Yes, seven- or eight-minute scoring droughts occur in college basketball games all the time, but in overtime, players are exhausted and the competition is fierce. Not allowing one basket in OT represents perfection for a defense, and sports — like life — are imperfect.
One team might get a four- or five-point lead and will then allow a 2-point basket late in OT as long as it denies a 3-point shot.
It’s really, really hard to achieve a defensive overtime with fewer than two points allowed.
Guess what?
USC has now done this twice.
The Trojans did not allow a single made field goal to Oregon State in overtime on Sunday. They allowed one free throw, but not a field goal.
USC has done something twice in 22 days which most other teams might require decades to achieve.
Moreover, USC is doing this with a relatively short bench. Despite being taken into overtime for the third Sunday in the last four weeks, and despite having only seven players play at least 10 minutes, USC had the stamina and staying power to completely shut down another Pac-12 opponent in overtime.
That’s insanely great.
Beth Burns and head coach Lindsay Gottlieb are simply doing remarkable work. One wonders what will come next in the 2023 “can you top this?” journey the USC women’s basketball team is creating.
