The season is still young. But USC's uninspired performance in front of a equally uninspired crowd of 3,104 at the Galen Center — the in-game host had to beg fans to make noise — raised questions about the team's direction.
"Our defense was just terrible," USC coach Andy Enfield said. "We played soft. … I was very disappointed in some of our upperclassmen defensively. They have to go home and look in the mirror and come back and play better basketball if we're going to have a chance to win games in this league."
USC (9-5) ended the nonconference portion of its schedule by winning three games to capture the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.