Desmond Claude scored a season-high 31 points and visiting Southern California took control in the second half of an 82-72 victory over No. 13 Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
Claude scored 21 points after halftime to help USC (10-6, 2-3 Big Ten) end a 19-game road losing streak against ranked teams since beating Tennessee in December, 2010. Claude made 12 of 20 shots and took 18 attempts inside the 3-point line to finish five shy of his career high set when he played at Xavier.
Wesley Yates III added 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting as the Trojans shot 52.3 percent and converted 19 layups and dunks after double-digit losses to Michigan and Indiana. Rashaun Agee contributed 13 points and hit three 3-pointers as the Trojans were 5 of 14 (35.7 percent) from deep after missing 20 of 26 attempts Wednesday at Indiana.
Illinois (12-4, 4-2) played without leading scorer Kasparas Jakucionis for the second straight game due to a left forearm injury. Jakucionis warmed up but watched the game in uniform as the Ilini were nowhere near as efficient as they were in Wednesday’s 91-52 rout of Penn State.
Ben Humrichous paced Illinois with 15 points while Tre White and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn added 11 apiece as the Illini shot 37.1 percent, their second-lowest percentage of the season.
Illinois also missed 25 of 32 attempts from 3-point range as the trio of Will Riley, Kylan Boswell and White were a combined 0 of 12 from behind the arc.
Agee hit 3s on consecutive possessions as USC scored eight straight and opened a 19-10 lead with 11:23 remaining in the first half. The Trojans held a 25-16 lead on a hoop by Yates with 7:21 left in the half.
Illinois closed the first half by outscoring USC 22-10 to take a 38-35 lead when Gibbs-Lawhorn stole the ball from Jalen Shelley and found White for a reverse layup at the horn.
After Gibbs-Lawhorn’s layup forged a 57-57 tie with 8:46 remaining, Claude sandwiched a short jumper in the paint and a layup around an one-handed dunk by Yates to give the Trojans a 63-57 lead with 6:57 left and forcing Illinois to burn a timeout.
USC kept rolling after the timeout and Claude got a contested short jumper in the lane to bounce in for a 70-60 lead with 5:18 remaining. The Trojans clinched the win when Saint Thomas hustled for the putback of a Claude miss and finished a 3-point play for a 77-67 lead with 2:12 remaining.
–Field Level Media
