LAS VEGAS — USC men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield pointed to the bullpen to summon his closer, and Isaiah Collier ambled to the scorer’s table, a brief minute of rest finished before one final fourth-quarter push.
He plays with confidence, now, and this program has confidence in him. In the beginnings of the year, Collier was mere brushstrokes of the player USC envisioned they were getting out of high school, the powerful top-ranked recruit bruising others and himself in a rough start. He scored, yes – but often played haywire in final minutes, out of control, and with the ball in his hands USC’s season too often slipped in the closing minutes.
But a few months later, Collier’s growth as a decision-maker has been ascendant. And with ninth-seeded USC clinging to a three-point lead late upon his re-entry for Bronny James, Collier’s steady hand and a pair of key free throws late closed out eighth-seeded Washington 80-74 in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
“I mean, earlier in the season, he made freshman mistakes – like, we expected it,” junior wing Kobe Johnson said after the game. “But throughout the course of this season, he’s really locked in, when we got the ball and with the lead. He’s learned how to win games for us.”
After snaring a rebound, Collier controlled the pace with time ticking under three minutes, eventually firing off a pass to USC captain Boogie Ellis on the wing. A red-hot Ellis caught and fired a deep 3-pointer in smooth rhythm, an early dagger before turning back to sparse early-afternoon stands in Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena and wagging his tongue.
Ellis finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, USC’s captain bringing his absolute best in what could be his final run in a Trojans jersey. And as the buzzer sounded and USC advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, Johnson – who stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals –…
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