LAS VEGAS —
The vibes resembled those of a team on the verge of doing something special, not playing out the final moments of a lost season.
USC players hopped in excitement on the bench after Boogie Ellis drove for a breakaway dunk in the final minute. They stood again to applaud Kobe Johnson’s layup that ensured the Trojans would keep playing.
The fashionable darkhorse pick to win the Pac-12 tournament was moving on.
Ninth-seeded USC’s 80-74 victory over eighth-seeded Washington in a first-round game Wednesday afternoon represented the Trojans’ season-best fourth consecutive triumph as well as their fifth win in their last six games.