USC suffered its fifth loss of the season last night against Oregon. This is their second in a row to a conference opponent, and their first to an unranked squad. Fans are, rightfully so, a little worried about what this means for the trajectory of the Trojans' season.
The Trojans went into the Oregon matchup spread a little thin, as guard Kennedy Smith was ruled out due to a lower leg injury. Despite that, USC started strong. They went into halftime with a 16-point lead over the Ducks. In the first half, USC star freshman Jazzy Davidson had put up 10 points. The second half was a bit of a different story.
Jazzy Davidson had only sunk one shot from the field in the entire second half. She finished the game with 14 total points, shooting only 5-of-20 from the field percent. The Ducks were able to come back, scoring the final 14 points of the contest — leaving USC scoreless for the final four-and-a-half minutes. The Ducks ultimately won 71-66.
Now, I'm not saying every one of USC's losses is due to Jazzy Davidson's poor shooting nights — ultimately her teammates need to pull through, but there is definitely an underlying trend that came to light last night.
Davidson shooting struggles and USC losses
Before Oregon, USC's four losses had all come from ranked opponents that arguably have tough defenses — South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn, and UCLA. So it makes sense for Davidson's shooting percentages to be down a bit in those matchups due to her having to make shots off harder looks. But it has become apparent that when her numbers are down, the team struggles.
For example, against UCLA, Davidson shot 4-of-15 — only 26.7 percent from the field. Earlier in the season, against UConn, she shot 3-of-13, 23.1 percent from the field. Now, of course, both these top five opponents beat the Trojans by 25+ points — so no, even Davidson shooting 100 percent from the field would not have prevented the losses.
Across the season, she's shooting just 38.8 percent from the field and 27.2 percent from beyond the arc.
But what I will say is if Davidson were to be shooting lights out, their opponent's defense would have to keep an extra set of eyes on her, even more so than usual. This would leave more opportunities for her teammates. In USC's win over ranked Nebraska, Davidson's efficiency was much better, putting up 17 points and shooting at 43.8 percent. Three of her other teammates also scored in double-digits.
Overall, Davidson is young and still learning the ropes of college ball, but she obviously shows tremendous potential. I think the fears fans have come from the loss last night. Davidson was not very efficient against a team they were arguably supposed to beat — and had a sizable lead over. Oregon being able to hold her to only 1 bucket off 9 attempts in the second half is worrisome — especially as Big Ten play ramps up and the Trojans are already sitting at 0-2.