USC's Boogie Ellis shares why Pac-12 tourney elevates his play: 'It's win or go home and I don't want to go home'

USC advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament with an 80-74 win over Washington in the very first game of the tournament on Wednesday. And despite a matchup with top seed Arizona set for Thursday, star guards Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis are welcoming the challenge.

And sitting well on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble — needing to win the Pac-12 tournament and the automatic bid that comes with it to make the 68-team field, in all likelihood — the duo entered the day knowing the next game could be their last from here on out. For Ellis, a senior who scored 25 in a comeback win for the Trojans, the specter of elimination fuels him.

“It’s win or go home and I don’t want to go home,” Ellis said on the Pac-12 Network desk after the win. “So I come out here and I play every game like it’s my last and do whatever it takes to help my team win.”

Things didn’t start auspiciously for the Trojans, as the Huskies poured in nine threes in the first half and took a 42-37 lead to the break.

Collier explained that USC came out with a subpar defensive effort before correcting course in the second half.

“Moses Wood had four or five threes, so I mean he got going early,” Collier said. “They hit nine threes the first half like I said. But we made adjustments at the half. We had a few mistakes in the second half but we’re going to learn from it and be better tomorrow.”

Ellis scored most of his game-high 25 points in the second half, as guard Kobe Johnson and Collier tacked on 14 and 13 points, respectively, in the game.

Coming out of the half, Ellis gave a plea to his teammates to turn up the intensity to get the Trojans another game.

“Just locking in our energy,” Ellis said. “I told the guys, ‘We only got 20 minutes guaranteed so we just gotta come out here and play like its our last 20 minutes.’ So we locked in defensively and we didn’t want to go home. So I’m proud of my guys and it’s on to the next.”

And “the next” is Arizona, a Top 10 team and the No. 1 seed in the league, but also a team that USC beat in the season finale.

The challenge is no secret to the Trojans, but they also know the Wildcats are a team they can tame.

And after a slow start to the season, the young but talented USC roster has begun to coalesce, winning four of the last five games of the regular season, including the upset over Arizona.

It could all be a recipe for the Trojans rolling on into Friday and perhaps beyond.

“It’s definitely going to be a hard matchup for us,” Collier said. “We definitely have to lock in and things like that. But like you said, we won four out of the last five, so it feels like we’re finally getting our team together. We dealt with a lot of injuries and things like that. There’s no excuses for us but we’re just going to be better and keep building on it.”