Kobe Johnson explains why he had to step up against Washington

On Saturday, USC got a key win over PAC-12 rival Washington largely due to the performance of guard Kobe Johnson.

Johnson played the game despite an ankle injury. He needed to do so too, in large part because Reese Dixon-Waters and Joshua Morgan both missed the game with their own injuries.

After the game, Kobe Johnson explained why he was the one who had to step up, despite his injury.

“Knowing that both of them were going to be out, I knew I needed to be there for my team,” Kobe Johnson said. “This injury is something that has bothered me over the past few days, but, you know, I’m able to play through it. So, if I’m able to play through it, I’ll continue to play through it.”

Kobe Johnson played 34 minutes on his injured ankle. For the game, he had five assists and 21 points. Both of those blew his season averages out of the water.

“I’m getting treatment done on it, but I need to be there for my guys however I can.”

On Thursday, USC travels to Oregon to face off against a Ducks team that needs to find a marquee win for its postseason resume.

Andy Enfield credited USC for the win over Washington

USC head coach Andy Enfield credited the Trojans for beating the Huskies despite their strong second-half push.

“Well, we won the turnover battle and the offensive rebounding. And we shot 86% from the foul line. So you’re not going to play your best game, Boogie (Ellis) and Drew (Peterson) to go eight-for-28 and two-for-14 from the three point line between them. They’re To their credit they had 13 assists, and Drew had 10 rebounds, which is really good,” Enfield said.

“But for us to be able to win a league game with both those guys having off nights on the offensive end, we feel very happy about that. That means our other guys have stepped up and came to play, and they did a great job.”