Evan Mobley has strong debut as USC tops Cal Baptist in OT

After Evan Mobley loped back up the court, following a blocked shot at the rim and a go-ahead baby hook in overtime, his face was blank.

In his scintillating collegiate debut, the loudest noise the highly-touted USC freshman heard in a Galen Center that was empty due to COVID-19 concerns was the bench of visiting Cal Baptist.

The No. 2 ranked player in the 2020 recruiting class scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds in a 95-87 overtime victory over the Lancers, but the team still transitioning to Division I showed plenty of cracks in what could be an NCAA Tournament team.

“I felt like we could have played a little bit better,” said Mobley, a preseason candidate for multiple national player of the year awards who shot 10 for 15 from the field and added three assists and three blocks to round out an impressive final line.

Cal Baptist – which joined Division I prior to the 2018-19 season but won’t be eligible for the NCAA Tournament for two more years – has 11 new players (seven foreign-born) and returns just three with experience. The Lancers played a high-energy, focused game, shooting 48.8% from beyond the 3-point arc (20 for 41) to stagger a USC team accustomed to doing that to its own opponents.

“That’s the most I think we’ve ever given up,” said USC head coach Andy Enfield, who added seven newcomers this offseason while losing five seniors and a lottery pick.

Faced with red-hot Lancers guard Ty Rowell (a career-high 32 points on 11-of-21 shooting), and without 88.5% of its 3-point scoring from last season, it was USC’s length – particularly an energized Mobley protecting the rim – that proved the difference.

Both teams struggled to find an early rhythm with coronavirus protocols precluding preseason scrimmages, but Mobley – a likely NBA lottery pick – was as good as advertised from the opening tip. Scoring at all three levels, Mobley dominated the glass on both ends and flashed superior basketball IQ in the two-man game with older brother Isaiah Mobley (14 points, 10 rebounds).

The younger Mobley tallied seven of USC’s first 14 points, but the Lancers locked in on him on defense, and the Trojans couldn’t make them pay from beyond the arc, going  5 for 19 from the arc during regulation.

Cal Baptist, though, was able to create open 3-point looks in transition, knocking down 10 before halftime – led by five from Rowell – to erase a nine-point USC lead and go into the locker room tied at 39.

A thunderous dunk from Evan Mobley capped a 9-2 USC run to open the second half, as Evan and Isaiah combined to pull down six rebounds (four on the offensive end) in the first four minutes.

The Lancers, though, kept firing from long distance, spacing the floor for the quick-trigger guard Mark Carbone (15 points, 5 for 6 from 3-point range) and Rowell, who gave CBU its first lead in 29 minutes with a 3-pointer at the 5-minute mark.

“Every time we got a five-, seven-, nine-point lead, we either missed free throws or they made a tough shot. We just couldn’t pull away,” Enfield said. “When you do that you let a team hang around and get confident.”

A Lancers shot clock violation, though, set up USC’s Tahj Eaddy for a 3-pointer that tied the score at 79-all with 45.9 seconds left, sending the game into overtime.

During the extra period, Evan Mobley went 3 for 3 from the field, and his swat on Gorjok Gak, followed by his hook shot in transition, sparked a decisive 8-0 run.

“Offensively, we went to him a lot,” Enfield said of Evan Mobley. “He made some great plays. He’s learning like everybody else. He’s a winner.”

“It felt pretty weird, but overall I feel like we played pretty good as a team,” Evan Mobley said. “A lot of my teammates got me the ball in the right spots. On the kickouts, they hit their shots. I’m pretty glad with the performance.”

Eaddy, a graduate transfer from Santa Clara, had 18 points for the Trojans, who had all six players in double figures. Rice transfer Drew Peterson finished with 12 points and nine rebounds and closed the game with a one-handed dunk off a fast-break.

Rowell, who missed most of last season due to injury, finished with a career-high nine 3-point baskets. CBU starters Gorjok Gak (13 points, eight rebounds) and Reed Nottage (nine points) each fouled out. The Lancers’ 20 3-pointers is a program record.

“They had a terrific system,” USC guard Ethan Anderson said. “They were setting backscreens, flares, really keeping us on our toes. We had too many defensive slip-ups leaving too many shooters open. They made a lot of tough shots.”

DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERE

Coaches sometimes pulled their masks down to shout instructions to players on the court and to those on the benches located on the baselines adjacent to where the coaching staffs sat.

“Definitely a few plays had to be repeated several times because I couldn’t hear them through their masks,” Anderson said.

Without cheering fans, players were easily heard yelling to each other when blaring music wasn’t echoing throughout the arena.

“Fans don’t get enough credit in terms of bringing the energy,” Anderson said. “We had to create our own energy. It worked to the other teams’ advantage.”

Said Enfield: “We’re just happy to be able to play. If wearing a face mask is the worst thing, we’ll take it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

The Trojans are back in business.@USC_Hoops came away with the OT victory to start the season. pic.twitter.com/WAZzx4n7M6

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 26, 2020

We're headed to overtime after @2Teazy's game-tying three

: @Pac12Network pic.twitter.com/jAECaTBVkB

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) November 26, 2020

Tahj Eaddy checks in after hitting the game-tying shot in his first outing as a Trojan! pic.twitter.com/jYLePF1HTG

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) November 26, 2020

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