Shorthanded Arizona Wildcats lose 57-48 to USC at Galen Center

That is, they couldn’t shoot. Not from 3. Not often from 2. A little from the free-throw line (13 of 15), but that only accentuated the fact that Arizona scored just 35 points from the field.

In a dreary 57-48 loss to USC on Thursday at the Galen Center, the shorthanded Wildcats shot just 28.1% overall and 11.1% (3 for 26) from 3-point range, their third sub-30s performance of the season after losses to Baylor and UCLA were marred with similarly bad shooting.

“Our offense is inept,” UA coach Sean Miller said.

But Baylor and UCLA prodded the Wildcats into bad shooting by pushing them around physically — more so than USC, which also held UA to 27.8% shooting at the Galen Center in their 80-57 win over Arizona last season.

Mostly, this time, the Wildcats just did it to themselves, with USC essentially playing without center Nick Rakocevic, who remained limited because of a virus that struck him during the team’s losses at Colorado and Utah last week.

However, Arizona was without guards Josh Green (lower back sprain) and Max Hazzard (personal reasons), forcing the Wildcats to go often with a bigger lineup featuring Stone Gettings at small forward.

“It clearly hurt us, no doubt about it,” Miller said. “You really feel as though we lost every ounce of depth that we have, and I thought guys who played their hearts out, played with really good effort. But we clearly wore down and we didn't shoot the ball well.”

Green tried to practice earlier this week after sustaining a sprain to his sacroiliac joint in his lower back — UA trainer Justin Kokoskie said he guessed it was likely the result of multiple bumps Green took against Oregon last Saturday — and he will not play Saturday at UCLA after not making the trip.

“I don't really have a prognosis,” Miller said. “We wanted him to stay home just because that's going to be his best bet to recover and rehab. There’s no reason to be here when he's not going to play. We’ll know more we get back to Tucson.”

Miller was more vague when asked about Hazzard’s status.

“I don't know,” he said. “Personal. I can't really say much beyond that.”

The guy who had the most relative success for Arizona was no surprise: Zeke Nnaji shot 5 for 13 from the field while fending off constant USC double teams, and he also hit 5 of 6 free throws to total 15 points and 11 rebounds, a double-double on a team that scored only 48 points.

For USC, Onyeka Okwongu had 11 points and 10 rebounds, including a 72-foot bomb just before the halftime buzzer. USC’s Jonah Mathews led the Trojans in scoring 14 points, after suffering a virus that struck him and Rakocevic hard last weekend.

“It was the worst sickness I’ve ever had,” said Mathews, saying he’s about 75 percent healthy now. “I’m happy to be back to normal.”

Rakocevic remained limited, going scoreless with only one rebound in 11 minutes.

“Nick had no energy,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “He tried to play and gave everything.”

The loss dropped Arizona to 19-9 overall and 9-6 in the Pac-12 heading into a game Saturday at UCLA, while USC improved to 20-9 and 9-7.

Without two key perimeter players, Miller went with a big lineup out of necessity, starting Ira Lee at power forward and moving Stone Gettings from that spot to the small forward. Backup center Chase Jeter also received eight minutes.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early 9-2 lead with that lineup, possibly in part because that lineup was not what USC expected.

“Definitely,” Lee said. “It’s a bigger lineup – 6-9, 6-8, 6-11, that’s a really big, agile lineup. I think that helped us a lot on the boards but it’s a new thing and we’re adjusting to it.”

Outrebounding USC 38-32 but matching the Trojans' 15 turnovers, Arizona never built a lead bigger than that seven point advantage. The Wildcats trailed 16-14 with eight minutes left in the first half and 26-21 at halftime after Okwongu launched his three-quarter court shot just before the halftime buzzer.

“I just saw Nico missed a shot, and I was working on (long) shots with our GAs (graduate assistants) after practice,” Okwongu said. “So I just took a chance. Got fouled. No call, but it still went in anyways.”

In the second half, Arizona fell behind 41-32 when Daniel Utomi hit a 3-pointer with 11:55 left, though Utomi gave it back when he fouled Mannion behind the 3-point line on the other end – and Mannion hit all three ensuing free throws.

Mannion later hit a 3-pointer to cut USC’s lead to 43-38 with 8:26 left and Nnaji hit a pair of free throws that brought UA within 50-46 with 2:52 left. But the Wildcats came no closer in the final minutes.

Mannion finished just 3 of 14 from the field, while he and Dylan Smith were both 1 for 7 from 3-point range. Jemarl Baker was 1 for 8 from 3 and even Nnaji, despite his usual efficiency inside, fired up three 3s and missed them all.

In the end, Lee said he didn’t think the loss of Green and Hazzard disrupted the Wildcats that much, even if something was clearly wrong.

“We have a lot of depth,” Lee said. “it's not like last year. We’ve got a lot of guys who could play. It was just tonight shots weren't falling. We were playing great defense. We're getting stops. We know our scouting report. It’s just shots weren't falling, especially from 3.”

Check out photos from Thursday night's game here: