It looked like trouble early on. USC petered away a substantial early lead, OJ Mayo couldn’t successfully land a basket from the field and the Huskies were out-rebounding the Trojans two to one. It appeared the night could bring USC’s fourth consecutive Pac-10 loss.

But the Trojans held to their aggressive defense to keep the score tight until they found some offensive rhythm mid-way through the second-half, effectively ending their three-game losing streak, their longest since losing the last three games of the 2005-2006 season. Dwight Lewis led with 17 points, Mayo had 15, and Gibson and Jefferson each had 10 to end the Trojans tumble.