Senior Drew Peterson scored a career-high 30 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed for six assists, and Southern California earned its 13th consecutive home win, beating Cal 97-60 on Thursday, Feb. 16, in Los Angeles.
The Trojans (18–8, 10–5 Pac-12) shot 58.9 percent from the floor while registering a much-needed victory after dropping their previous two, last week on the road against Oregon and Oregon State.
USC posted its largest margin of victory since routing Alabama State by 38 points on Nov. 10. The Trojans logged their most lopsided conference win since blowing out Stanford by 37 on March 3, 2021.
Peterson’s career night—which fell a little more than one year to the day of his previous high, 27 points on Feb. 12, 2022, vs. UCLA—saw the veteran shoot 4 of 7 from 3-point range. He added seven rebounds and six assists.
Boogie Ellis connected on 4 of 8 from beyond the arc, part of his 22 points, and the Trojans went 12 of 23 (52.2 percent) as team from long distance.
USC’s Oziyah Sellers made both of his 3-point attempts off the bench en route to a career-high 11 points. Kobe Johnson added 15 points and had five steals for the Trojans, who converted 15 Cal turnovers into 14 points.
The Golden Bears (3–23, 2–13) shot just 35.6 percent from the floor, unable to keep pace with USC’s torrid production. The Trojans scored the game’s first 13 points, and Cal never got any closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Monty Bowser came off the bench to lead Cal with 13 points, while ND Okafor and Kuany Kuany each recorded 11 points. Kuany made both of his 3-point attempts and grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
The loss was Cal’s 10th straight, with seven of the past eight coming by double-digit-point margins. Conversely, Thursday’s win was the fourth in USC’s past five at home decided by 10 points or more.
