In Troy’s defense

The defense returned for the University of Southern California.

Six days removed from allowing 81 points in their conference tournament title game, the fifth-seeded Trojans bounced back to smother No. 12 Arkansas.

Never allowing the Razorbacks to get untracked, USC posted the most convincing NCAA men’s basketball tournament win in the Spokane subregional Friday with a 77-60 victory before 11,551 in the Arena.

The Trojans (24-11) advance in the East Regional to meet Texas (25-9) Sunday afternoon. The game will begin about 25 minutes after the conclusion of the 11:50 a.m. matchup of Oregon and Winthrop.

It took about seven minutes before the Trojans’ defense started to take over. Once it did, the Razorbacks had no answer.

“I think our guys were disappointed with their performance against Oregon the last time we played,” USC coach Tim Floyd said. “It’s as good a defense as we’ve played this year.”

Defense certainly sparked a USC offense that sputtered initially.

Trailing 14-6, USC went on a 12-0 run that propelled it into the lead for good at 18-14.

Defense continued to fuel the Trojans’ offense. USC outscored the Razorbacks 30-9 during a 10-minute, 10-second stretch.

A jumper by Lodrick Stewart gave the Trojans their biggest lead in the first half at 36-23 with 3:26 to go before halftime.

USC scored just two more points thereafter, but the Trojans still went into the break with a comfortable 38-27 lead.

Arkansas scored the first two baskets of the second half, pulling within 38-31.

But an 11-4 spurt by the Trojans allowed them to open a margin the Razorbacks wouldn’t be able to cut into thereafter.

USC pushed the lead to 76-54 with 2 minutes to play.

Floyd was asked how much the 81-57 loss to Oregon last Saturday helped his team focus for its NCAA tournament opener.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Floyd said. “I know that might not have helped the players, but it helped me understand that we weren’t guarding anybody, and we went back and I don’t think we shot a ball this week – all we did was defend, because we couldn’t get back against those guys (Oregon). We couldn’t stay between them and the basket, and we were pretty good in both those areas tonight.”

The Arkansas starting guard duo of Patrick Beverley and Gary Ervin combined to make just 7 of 25 field-goal attempts overall and just 1 of 10 from 3-point range. Stewart and Gabe Pruitt along with Daniel Hackett off the bench all took turns guarding the Razorbacks’ guards.

“They’re a very good defensive team,” Arkansas coach Stan Heath said. “They’ve got great quickness, they can pressure the basketball. They can recover when there’s a mistake made or if they need to get some help and get back. I think it was a combination of us missing some shots that we can make and them being a very good defensive team.”

USC junior swingman Nick Young scored a game-high 20 points while freshman forward Taj Gibson had 18. The Trojans made 50 percent of their shots (25 of 50) while Arkansas made 36 percent (21 of 57).