USC Trojans knock off No. 7 Michigan State
The USC Trojans led wire-to-wire in taking down No. 7 Michigan State 70-64 at Galen Center on Saturday afternoon.
Eric Musselman’s program raced out to a 22-7 lead over the game’s first seven minutes and then hung on as the Spartans got back into it but could never do enough to take a lead.
Desmond Claude led the Trojans with 19 points, chipping in six rebounds and three assists. He did that despite missing some time after looking as though he’d suffered a significant knee injury.
Wesley Yates III had 15 points and five rebounds, while Chibuzo Agbo had 12 points and four rebounds. Yates continued his strong play and has now scored in double figures in nine games in a row.
Michigan State cut the USC lead to just 55-52 with 8:37 remaining when Jaden Akins connected on a three-pointer. USC big man Josh Cohen hit back-to-back shots to help keep the Trojans in front. Minutes later, Yates hit two free throws to give the Trojans a 63-56 lead with 5:42 remaining and set the stage for the win.
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The Spartans got the lead back down to five, at 66-61 with 1:36 remaining. But Yates got on the end of a long inbounds pass to flush home a dunk with just 37 seconds left that got the final celebration started.
Michigan State was a perfect 9-0 in Big Ten play heading into this game and 18-2 overall. The Spartans had won 13 games in a row. This is the second major Big Ten win for USC this season as the Trojans also took down a ranked Illinois team on the road earlier this month. USC needed a bit of a bounceback after coming up short against UCLA at home earlier this week.
The Trojans also got it done in front of some basketball royalty as former Michigan State legend Magic Johnson was in the building.
