The most questionable call in USC-ASU game was by Tim Floyd

We've seen Tim Floyd displeased before, but Sunday night at Arizona State was one of his most epic tirades. Trailing by six, the Trojans had the ball and 48 seconds left in the game when point guard Daniel Hackett collided with the Sun Devils' Jamelle McMillan. One official apparently signaled blocking against ASU. Another official overruled him and signaled a charge on USC.

Then Floyd sent some signals of his own.

He yelled, he stomped and he may have even brushed into a referee. The performance earned him an ejection and a double technical foul. ASU's Derek Glasser sank the first three of his four free throws to put the game out of reach.

Of course, 48 seconds is an eternity in a close basketball game -- especially when you've still got a timeout. Had Floyd kept quiet, Arizona State would have taken the ball but no foul shots. Had Floyd studied his USC history, he might have remembered a night 10 years ago when the Trojans were trailing by five on the road at Oregon. Adam Spanich nailed a pair of three-pointers in the final 2.8 seconds to complete one of the most unbelievable comebacks in college basketball history.

Unfortunately for USC, Sunday's game isn't history yet.

Rough day at the office for Tim Floyd and USC

You could almost imagine it with the crowd on hand ... "Put me in for coach!"

Tim Floyd exploded in the final minute of a rough 65-53 loss to Arizona State on Sunday night in Tempe, easily earning an ejection that could end up an instant classic on YouTube.

If the Trojans needed any help, there were plenty of his colleagues in the building. The NBA All-Star game wrapped up around the same time that the Trojans and Sun Devils tipped off, and the two arenas sit just a few miles apart.

Portland Trail Blazer Coach Nate McMillan was on hand to watch his son, Jamelle McMillan, play for ASU. It was just the second game of the year for the dad, who was also there when the Sun Devils went to Oregon State. In those two games, Jamelle has hit 7 of 11 (64%) from beyond the arc, but he's only 17 of 59 (29%) on the rest of the season.

Los Angeles Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy was also in the stands to support his son, James Dunleavy, a USC walk-on.

Former Memphis Grizzlies and Texas A&M coach Tony Barone was there as a scout, as was former Southern Methodist and WNBA coach John Shumate. Speaking of the Grizzlies, their rookie star (and former Trojan) O.J. Mayo also took in the game.

If anybody gave Floyd some advice, though, it was probably retired USC coach Bob Boyd. The two are close friends, and Boyd came over to give Floyd a pat on the back during the postgame news conference.

-- Adam Rose

Photo: USC's Daniel Hackett gets in between Trojan Coach Tim Floyd and a referee at Sunday night's game at ASU. Credit: Paul Connors/AP Photo.

USC's perimeter play isn't on the periphery

Tim Floyd was concerned about guarding Cal on the perimeter before Saturday night's game. It turned out all right, as the Trojans held the Bears to 2 of 16 from beyond the arc.

With the win, USC is now a game out of first place in the conference behind Washington and UCLA. The Trojans face the Bruins in Westwood on Wednesday.

USC will need to repeat its defensive perimeter performance in its next game. UCLA has the best outside game of any team in the conference and arguably the best guard play in the nation. Actually, the Bruins are good all-around. They used this last week to develop an inside game, making a concerted effort to score points in the paint against Cal and Stanford.

NOTE: Due to technical issues, the video from this post was missing on Sunday.

-- Adam Rose

USC beats Cal, 73-62, to pull within a game of first in Pac-10

It wasn't a perfect game, but it was a good win. Here's what Tim Floyd had to say about USC's performance against Cal:

After slipping behind in the second half, USC finally put away the Bears, 73-62, in the Galen Center on Saturday night. The margin was comfortable enough that Mamadou Diarra, Percy Miller and Jordan Cameron all got in for a minute.

Cameron is a wide receiver on the USC football team after transferring from BYU. He became the first player to make both rosters since Gregg Guenther did it for three years from 2001-2003, before concentrating on basketball in 2004. Cameron is the uncle of young Cole Cameron, whose mom, Brynn, is on the USC women's basketball team. Both were in attendance on Saturday. Cole's dad is former Trojan quarterback Matt Leinart, who's with Arizona in the Super Bowl. If there was ever a kid destined to be a USC athlete ...

-- Adam Rose

USC ekes one out over The Farm

USC held on for a narrow victory over Stanford on Thursday night, 70-69.

We'll have limited blog coverage on this one, but just for kicks enjoy a few photographs (more below the jump) and this highlight reel from FOX:

Highlights: Stanford - USC

DeRozan's alley-oop hits YouTube

Against Washington last week, DeMar DeRozan took a giant lob from Daniel Hackett and slammed it down for one of the best highlights of the season. Enjoy this video, as found on USCSportsTalk.com.

-- Adam Rose

USC falls to Washington, 78-73, in Seattle

The Trojans weren't the worst team on the court at Washington on Thursday night. They certainly weren't the best, either.

The ugliest performance was from the referees. "One thing about these officials tonight, they've been consistent," said an announcer on Prime Ticket. "Consistently wrong."

At least USC gave them plenty of opportunity to practice blowing their whistles. With three players fouling out, the Trojans gave the Huskies a whopping 40 shots from the charity stripe. Washington converted 32, and went on to win, 78-73.

Make no mistake -- USC can't blame officiating for this one. The Trojans have won only twice in their last five games, and ran into a rising Washington team that has won 12 of its last 13.

At least USC could put together a nice highlight reel from the evening. Marcus Johnson looked like the kind of player YouTube was invented for. Daniel Hackett hit a buzzer-beater before halftime that was somewhere in the nether-region between the three-point arc and half court. He also lobbed up a big alley-oop to DeMar DeRozan.

On the other hand, DeRozan still seems to be experiencing some growing pains. He missed another from the perimeter -- one you'd expect from a freshman, but not from a freshman phenom. His teammate Percy Miller was loudly teased by the Washington crowd, who held up pictures of the former child star and chanted his name in the closing minutes. If it felt like an eternity for him -- it was. The final 30 seconds on the game clock lasted about five minutes in real time.

UPDATE: Somebody at USC has a sense of humor about this game. On the school's official website, you can download a copy of the box score. The file is titled PostWashFiasco.pdf.

-- Adam Rose
Photo by Brian Spurlock/US Presswire

Video: Floyd discusses final moments of USC's victory over Arizona

One moment, Daniel Hackett was the goat -- missing two critical free throws down the stretch in an important contest against Arizona. Moments later, he was the hero -- winning the game with a couple of clutch plays. Here's USC Coach Tim Floyd on the closing moments of the 65-64 victory over the Wildcats:

-- Adam Rose

Video: Floyd talks about USC victory over Arizona

USC escaped a wild finish to beat Arizona 65-64 on Saturday night in the Galen Center. Afterward, coach Tim Floyd broke down the victory over the Wildcats:

On the same night, UCLA fell to ASU and Cal fell to Stanford, putting the Trojans back in the Pac-10 mix.

-- Adam Rose

Sweet shot of and by USC's DeMar DeRozan

On this weekend's program cover for USC men's basketball, DeMar DeRozan is jumping high enough to hit his head on the rim.

"Is that goaltending?" joked Dan Weber from the Riverside Press Enterprise.

If you're going to Thursday's game against Arizona State (7:30 p.m.) or Saturday's game against Arizona (5 p.m.), you can pick up a copy for $3. Seems worth it for the cover alone.

-- Adam Rose
Cover photo by Patrick Gee. Click the image to see a larger version.