Desmond Claude scored 16 points and dished eight assists in his return from a knee injury as Southern California sent Penn State to its sixth consecutive loss with a 92-67 rout on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
The Trojans (14-10, 6-7 Big Ten) returned home from an 0-2 road trip to Northwestern and Purdue last week to welcome Claude into the lineup for the first time since a Feb. 1 win over then-No. 7 Michigan State.
Claude made his first five field-goal attempts and USC wound up 33-for-49 (67.3 percent) from the floor in its highest-scoring effort since a 99-89 win over Iowa on Jan. 14.
Claude was one of four Trojans to put up at least 12 points. Chibuzo Agbo led all scorers with 21 points. Wesley Yates III finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.
With 12 points, Josh Cohen recorded his first double-digit-point performance since going for 17 points vs. Southern on Dec. 22. Tuesday was also Cohen’s first time scoring in double figures against a Big Ten opponent.
Cohen also grabbed five rebounds to match Yates and Penn State’s D’Marco Dunn for the game-high.
The Nittany Lions (13-12, 3-11) completed an 0-2 swing through California, dropping their inaugural Big Ten matchups with conference newcomers USC and UCLA by a combined 49 points.
The Nittany Lions trailed almost wire to wire, holding a two-point lead in the game’s first minutes before USC took over. Penn State endured a field-goal drought of nearly nine minutes in the first half, which overlapped with a 16-1 Trojans run.
The Nittany Lions recovered to cut the resulting 17-point deficit nearly in half by intermission, trailing 40-31 going into the locker room. Dunn helped lead the rally, scoring seven of his 10 points in the first half.
However, a 9-1 USC run early in the second half and another of 11-2 later put the game out of reach for Penn State.
Ace Baldwin Jr. led the Nittany Lions with 15 points and four assists. Dominick Stewart scored 13 points and Zach Hicks added 10 points despite shooting just 2-for-9 from 3-point range.
Penn State wound up 21-for-49 (42.9 percent) from the floor overall and 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc. USC went 12-for-16 (75 percent) from deep.
–Field Level Media
