Andy Enfield calls Auburn win USC's biggest of the year 'by far'

USC made a statement for their program with their 74-71 win over Auburn this weekend. The Trojans hung in there with the Tigers all game long and, in the end, took the victory late. Now, as they sit at 9-3 on the season, Enfield says there’s no doubt that this win is the best one of their year so far.

Enfield applauded his team during his postgame press conference on Saturday. He said the win over Auburn is big because of their ranking alone but also because of the offensive improvement his team showed again in the victory.

“This is our biggest win of the year by far. First of all, they’re a Top-20 team. They’re very good,” said Enfield. “Secondly, we’ve been improving as a team. We have our weaknesses but we’ve improved in so many areas, including offensively, the last couple weeks. The last three games we’ve been very good offensively…Tonight, again, we shot a high percentage from the field and the free-throw line.”

After coming up short in big opportunities against quality competition like Tennessee and Wisconsin earlier this season, this win against Auburn is the biggest accomplishment on USC’s resume so far. They were able to do it by shooting 46.2% from the field. That effort was spearheaded by Boogie Ellis, who was electric with a career-high 28 points on 9/15 shooting.

Enfield is most proud of the way his team showed their development as well as proved they could compete. He says it’s the mark of a good team, which is what he is hoping his Trojans are currently growing into.

“This was a very important game for us. Not only from the national resume perspective or for our league but, also, we’re a young team that’s developing. And I thought this showed that we can compete,” Enfield said. “You have to beat good teams to have a successful season. I’m proud of our guys because we’ve really improved.”

This is a quality notch in USC’s belt in their non-conference season. They’ll now have one last game outside the Pac-12, a matchup against Colorado State in Phoenix at the Jerry Colangelo Classic, before opening conference play with three straight road competitions.