It was all USC Trojans from start to finish as their defense totally broke apart any hopes for a big Stanford Cardinal road victory in the Galen Center. After Josh Owens nailed the opening shot, Stanford missed their next seven shots and fell behind 8-2. After Andrew Zimmermann nailed a jumper and Jeremy Green hit a free throw, the Trojans reeled off ten straight points to make it 18-5. The Trojans would lead for double digits the rest of the way and were up by as many as 34 points in the second half.
Nikola Vucevic shot 9 for 11 from the field, nailed a pair of triples, and grabbed nine rebounds to lead all Trojan scorers with 20 points. Alex Stepheson had a double double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Marcus Simmons pulled down eight boards, Jio Fontan added 12 points and Maurice Jones had seven points and three rebounds, assists and steals apiece. USC shot 56% from the field and 7 of 14 from three point range in a total team effort.
It was a total team suckfest for the Cardinal, who got nothing going anywhere. Not one Cardinal registered double digits in scoring, as Stanford shot 22% from the field and 3 of 18 from three point land. Stanford's "best" player was probably Anthony Brown with nine points; Jeremy Green (2 for 9, five points), Jarrett Mann (1 for 6, two points), Josh Huestis (2 for 6, six points) and Dwight Powell (1 for 8, three points).
Stanford moves onto face UCLA on Saturday night in Pauley Pavilion. For more coverage, go to Rule of Tree for Stanford insight or Conquest Chronicles for Trojan reaction.