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Colorado’s Maddox Daniels fouls USC’s Tahj Eaddy during their Pac-12 Tournament semifinal on Friday night in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Tahj Eaddy #2 of the USC Trojans is guarded by Eli Parquet #24 of the Colorado Buffaloes during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Colorado’s Maddox Daniels, right, fouls Southern California’s Ethan Anderson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 men’s tournament Friday, March 12, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: McKinley Wright IV #25 of the Colorado Buffaloes drives against Ethan Anderson #20 of the USC Trojans during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans is guarded by Dallas Walton #13 of the Colorado Buffaloes during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans is guarded by Jabari Walker #12 of the Colorado Buffaloes during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans tips the jump ball at the start of a game against the Colorado Buffaloes during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Jeriah Horne #41 of the Colorado Buffaloes shoots against Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans passes against Evan Battey #21 and Eli Parquet #24 of the Colorado Buffaloes during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Colorado’s Evan Battey, right, and Southern California’s Isaiah Mobley (3) battle for a rebound during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 men’s tournament Friday, March 12, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: McKinley Wright IV #25 and Keeshawn Barthelemy #11 of the Colorado Buffaloes celebrate after Wright hit a 3-pointer against the USC Trojans during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 12: Evan Mobley #4 of the USC Trojans passes against Jeriah Horne #41 and Jabari Walker #12 of the Colorado Buffaloes during the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on March 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Colorado’s McKinley Wright IV, left, and Southern California’s Tahj Eaddy (2) vie for the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 men’s tournament Friday, March 12, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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Southern California’s Ethan Anderson (20) drives into Colorado’s McKinley Wright IV (25) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 men’s tournament Friday, March 12, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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USC’s Evan Mobley looks to pass as Colorado’s Evan Battey, left, and Eli Parquet defend during the first half of their Pac-12 Tournament semifinal on Friday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS — USC had gotten what it wanted. After trailing by 12 with four minutes to play in Friday night’s Pac-12 Tournament semifinal against Colorado, the Trojans had gone on a 14-2 run to tie the score on a Tahj Eaddy three-point play with 35 seconds left.
Then, the USC defense forced a miss by Colorado leading scorer McKinley Wright IV to theoretically give the Trojans a chance to win.
The one hiccup: No one boxed out D’Shawn Schwartz, who flew in from the corner for a one-handed put-back dunk to put Colorado back ahead with 3.3 seconds to play.
Wright deflected a pass to Eaddy in the final seconds to end the Trojans’ hopes at a Pac-12 title, 72-70.
Third-seeded Colorado (22-7) advanced to play fifth-seeded Oregon State in the conference championship game, while second-seeded USC (22-7) will wait to see what seed it receives from the NCAA Tournament selection committee on Sunday.
“We had our chances,” USC head coach Andy Enfield said. “We battled. That was a very physical basketball game and they just made the last play.”
A confident Isaiah Mobley 3-pointer and a turnover on the other end, and USC found itself in a position that was difficult to imagine earlier in the night: With the chance to tie or take the lead, and 6:11 to play.
But a missed layup led to back-to-back 3-pointers by old nemesis Jeriah Horne, starting a 10-0 Colorado run to seemingly reassert control over the game.
Only that’s when Eaddy came alive. After not scoring for the first 37 minutes of the game, Eaddy made a 3-pointer to stop the Colorado run and begin the Trojans’ last-ditch efforts, scoring 11 of the next 14 USC points.
Only it wasn’t enough in the end, as six missed free throws and a 37-29 disadvantage in rebounding came back to haunt the Trojans.
Evan Mobley led the Trojans with 26 points, tying the career high he set the night before. Wright led the Buffs with 24 while Horne scored 19.
The USC offense was a shell of itself to start the game. Ten minutes in, USC had seven turnovers to six points scored. It took 15 minutes for a player not named Mobley to score a point. USC missed 11 of its first 14 attempts.
Meanwhile, Colorado opened up 5 for 8 from 3-point range to build a 15-point lead,
But things quickly grew physical between the two teams. Chevez Goodwin was called for a dead-ball technical foul when his elbow connected with the head of Colorado’s All-Pac-12 guard, Wright.
Wright lay on the court, apparently stunned as Colorado’s sparse fan section called for Goodwin’s ejection. Wright went back into the locker room for seven minutes of game time.
Colorado kept the Trojans at bay during the break, but USC’s offense picked up steam as the half progressed largely thanks to Mobley, who scored 17 in the half on 8-for-12 shooting. His layup through a foul got the Trojans back within seven.
Mobley played 39 minutes and finished with nine rebounds and five of USC’s six blocked shots.
“He’s been very aggressive offensively,” Enfield said. “Just to be able to play that long and that well with that type of stamina is impressive.”
When Wright did return, he took a couple minutes to get back into the flow of a game. But soon, he knocked down a 3 and drove to the rim for a layup.
USC guard Ethan Anderson responded with a 3-pointer but was assessed a technical foul for taunting Wright after the shot. Two free throws later, Wright drained a 3-pointer and was greeted with chest bumps as USC called timeout, down 14 again.
“Our guys were ready to play,” Enfield said when asked about his team’s first-half poise, “they just didn’t play very well.”
For all the dramatics of the second half, really it was the first-half mistakes that came back to haunt the Trojans.
“I think we got to come out to better starts. This is not the first time this has happened,” Eaddy said. “We put ourselves in holes. When we play good teams, we can’t afford to do things like that.”
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