OJ Mayo couldn’t do it alone, not that he didn’t try. The freshman phenom had a career high 37 points including 7-10 for 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and a blocked shot. But the fact that Mayo was forced to attempt so many shots from outside, showed just how strong the ASU defense really was. So strong, in fact, no one else on the Trojan team broke 10 points, and aside from Davon Jefferson (8 points, 5 rebounds), the rest of the USC starters and bench were held under 5 points each. Johnson had 5, Lewis had 3, Gibson had 2.

ASU’s James Harden, also one of the premier freshman in the Pac-10, had 24 points and Jeff Pendergraph 21. The Trojans were playing such sloppy-defense and the Sun Devil team were driving to the basket with such force, that ASU kept on drawing fouls, which likely made the difference in the game. Arizona State must have made a pact with the free-throw devil, making 34 of 39!, compared to 10 of 11 for USC. Technical fouls were called on Davon Jefferson and Tim Floyd, and four Trojan players ended up fouled out of the game.

ASU went on to beat USC, 80-66. This mounts a bit of pressure for the Trojans to close their last games with wins, to assure a tourney berth.