USCs Lindsay Gottlieb says struggling Trojans are

Her USC crew may need dropped 5 of its last six video games, more than it misplaced all of last season, while the highway forward may very well be one thing of an uphill climb, with 4 of its ultimate 10 video games against top-12 groups.

But by no means, at 11-8, is coach Lindsay Gottlieb prepared to wave the white flag on USC’s season or its NCAA match hopes. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“There’s a ton of season left,” Gottlieb said confidently Friday, two days before USC was set to face off with No. 7 Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Trojans had just fallen short against Michigan State 74-68, the evening before.

“We know we’re right there,” the coach continued. “But right there isn’t good enough. We’re not satisfied with that. But for this team, if we continue to figure the things out that are keeping us from getting over the hump, you know, then we think that we can do some damage.”

It actually appeared that method at the start of January, when the Trojans have been 10-3 and appeared to have discovered some type of stride without injured celebrity JuJu Watkins. But the void she’d left in USC’s lineup turned significantly noticeable in the new yr, as a blowout loss to UCLA, the biggest defeat of Gottlieb’s tenure, left USC reeling. Sophomore wing Kennedy Smith went down with an injury after that, and USC blew a fourth-quarter lead to Oregon a few nights later. In three of their next 4 video games — against Minnesota, Maryland and Michigan State — USC failed in some fashion to ship down the stretch.

Yet none of those losses, Gottlieb factors out, has been all that detrimental to the Trojans’ match resume. Not yet, at least. USC still sits at No. 25 in the NET rankings, thanks to its grueling nonconference schedule to start the season. The Trojans are 9-1 in video games against Quad 2, 3 and 4 opponents, although they are 2-7 against top-tier opponents at present ranked as Quad 1.

That pattern can’t maintain if USC hopes to make the NCAA match for the fourth consecutive season under Gottlieb, a streak that USC’s girls’s basketball program hasn’t matched since Cheryl Miller walked the sideline. But following Sunday’s matchup with Michigan, USC can have to contend with another top-10 crew when Iowa comes to Galen Center.

The schedule ought to get simpler after that, with matchups through February against Rutgers (9-10), Northwestern (8-11), Indiana (11-9) and Penn State (7-13), all of which rank in the underside third of the convention. Yet the margin for error through that stretch, contemplating USC’s eight losses, is razor skinny.

“Our whole mindset is only looking forward,” guard Kara Dunn said. “We have so many opportunities ahead to turn things around.”

Most of those alternatives of late have been on account of Dunn, who has been dynamic since the start of the new yr. She’s averaging more than 24 factors over USC’s last 5.

It was exactly the function she’d envisioned when she dedicated to Gottlieb and USC, in search of a more free-flowing, pro-style offense. But it might take some adjusting, related to how it took time for switch ahead Kiki Iriafen to settle into the offense last season.

“I was just trying to find where I fit,” Dunn said.

She discovered it just in time, with freshman Jazzy Davidson mired in a multi-game hunch. Davidson has still been one of the best freshmen in faculty basketball this season, but she’s taking pictures only 38% from the sector this season. Smith, the Trojans’ third-leading scorer, has been even streakier at 35%. Both have struggled particularly from the three-point line in current video games, taking pictures a mixed 4 of 26 over their last three video games.

Fortunately for USC, Dunn has stepped up from deep in their absence, hitting 44% of her three-point makes an attempt over the last 4 to keep the Trojans afloat on offense. Against Purdue, in USC’s only win in January, Dunn dropped a season-high 29.

“I’m really just remembering who I am and who I was previously,” Dunn said. “I’m used to scoring in high numbers.”

USC will need her contributions to continue if it hopes to make any noise come March. There’s little Gottlieb can do now about the restrictions in USC’s frontcourt, which has relied all season on a four-way rotation at heart. But Davidson continues to make progress in her first season, while Dunn’s emergence has helped take stress off the Trojans’ spectacular freshman.

As Gottlieb gathered her crew for a assembly on Friday, she urged her gamers to be taught from the onerous classes of the last three weeks. Now was no time to sound any alarm bells, she assured, with hopes that they stick together from right here.

“The only way through a storm is not to pull off of the road,” Gottlieb said, “but to keep going through it.”