In the wake of her worst loss in five seasons at USC, Lindsay Gottlieb turned on the film of the Trojans’ 34-point loss at UCLA last weekend and found herself even more enraged than she had been initially Saturday night. Looking back, her team’s lack of effort was troubling. In the days that followed, she reiterated that point over and over.
But three days later, the “hard lessons” the coach had hoped her team would take from that loss seemed to be forgotten in the final five minutes Tuesday against Oregon. What looked at one point like a surefire, get-right win over the Ducks leading into that final, fourth-quarter stretch descended instead into a disastrous 71-66 defeat that left Gottlieb shaking her head.
To USC’s coach, who hadn’t dropped consecutive games since January 2024, it was “about as upsetting a loss as we’ve had in this building.”
For her team, it may mark a fork in the road for this season. Either for better, or for worse.
“I think that it’s time we make a change,” guard Kara Dunn said. “We have to have a change of heart, a change of mind.”
Until the 4:46 mark of the fourth quarter Tuesday, the Trojans (10-5, 2-2 in the Big Ten) looked well on their way to stopping the skid from Saturday’s brutal loss to their bitter rival Bruins. Just as Oregon mounted a run, Londynn Jones knocked down a three-pointer to silence it. Freshman Jazzy Davidson pulled up on the next possession and hit a jumper, extending No. 21 USC’s lead to nine. It was her only basket of the second half, as she finished five of 20 from the field for 14 points to go with 13 rebounds and five assists.
Those were the last two buckets that the Trojans would score Tuesday. Oregon’s Ari Long hit a three-pointer, then drained another on the next possession. The Galen Center crowd groaned, seemingly knowing what was coming next.
It played out like a slow-motion car crash from there, the two teams locked at 66, but all the momentum drained out of the building. Dunn, who led all scorers with 21, had a lay-up blocked. On the next trip, Jones drove to the hoop, had her shot stuffed and fell to the ground. Then, Davidson turned the ball over.
Out of a timeout, Long caught a pass in the corner and let another three-pointer rip. This one, her third in a 2:12 stretch, would be the dagger.
Of course, USC had plenty of chances before that point to pull away. It took a 16-point lead into halftime and led by nine more than midway through the fourth quarter.
But Gottlieb had seen a different demeanor from her team in the second half, one she didn’t particularly like. It reminded her of Saturday’s loss, and she let her team know it after.
“We came out like we’d arrived, like we had it in the bag,” Gottlieb said. “We were too casual.”
It didn’t help that USC was without sophomore guard Kennedy Smith, its best defender and emotional leader, who sat out with a lower leg injury. She remains “day-to-day,” Gottlieb said.
USC certainly could have used her in the second half, as Oregon put up 50 points compared to just 21 before halftime.
“It was gross in every way, the way we handled when we had a lead, the way we handled when they were cutting into our lead,” Gottlieb said.
But it wasn’t just the defense that dropped off. Gottlieb was especially unhappy with the Trojans’ shot selection, which she called “ridiculous” and “really, really bad.” USC knocked down just nine shots after halftime and only three in the fourth quarter.
Eventually, it caught up to them. And now, at the very start of USC’s Big Ten slate, Gottlieb finds herself in a place she hasn’t been in a while — with her team slumping, the schedule stiffening and the season suddenly heading in the wrong direction.
