Washington Huskies vs Southern California Trojans Box Score on Dec 29, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 30, 2017

Washington shot a blistering 67.3 percent from the floor to knock off USC 88-81 Friday night at Galen Center in the Pac-12 Conference opener for both teams.

The Huskies (11-3, 1-0 Pac-12) went 37 of 55 from the field, with the scoring balanced among five players who put up from 10 to 17 points. Noah Dickerson set the pace with 17 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Jaylen Nowell added 16 points and six assists.

Matisse Thybulle made three of Washington's eight 3-pointers en route to 14 points, and Dominic Green added 13 points with three 3-pointers off the bench.

USC (9-5, 0-1), fresh off a championship run at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, got a double-double from forward Chimezie Metu at 26 points and 10 rebounds. Frontcourt mate Bennie Boatwright scored 24 points, and the two shot a combined 19 of 31 from the floor.

But while the Trojans forwards shot on pace with Washington's season-best, the rest of the USC lineup went ice cold -- particularly from behind the 3-point line.

Boatwright made all three of the Trojans' triples at 3-for-8. USC as a team went 3 of 20.

Jordan McLaughlin dished out eight assists and made four steals on a night USC forced 16 Washington turnovers to just nine for the Trojans. Despite USC's ball control, its inability to generate consistent offense beyond Boatwright and Metu was its undoing.

USC built a 23-16 lead with a little more than nine minutes left before halftime, but Washington went on a 25-12 run to close the half. The Huskies never relinquished the lead after going up on a Dickerson layup with 1:15 left before intermission.