What Andy Enfield and players said following USC men's basketball's 77-72 loss to Arizona State

ASU was red hot from beyond the arc making 14 three-pointers on 32 attempts (43.8%).

LAS VEGAS — USC couldn't overcome a "flat" first half losing to Arizona State 77-72 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday night. The Trojans trailed 39-25 at the break. ASU was red hot from beyond the arc making 14 three-pointers on 32 attempts (43.8%). 

"They just wanted it more than us tonight," Boogie Ellis said. "We were flat."

"We came out soft," Kobe Johnson added. 

Arizona State's Desmond Cambridge Jr. led all scorers with 27 points. Reese Dixon-Waters and Tre White each scored 16 points for USC.

After beating the Sun Devils by three points five nights ago at the Galen Center, the Trojans struggled against a desperate Arizona State team trying to claw its way into the NCAA Tournament. 

Even with the defeat, USC is still a good bet to make the Big Dance thanks to going 2-1 against Arizona State this year and finishing in third place during the conference regular season. Coming into the game, the majority of bracketologists predicted that the Trojans will be a No. 10 seed. Thursday's loss could drop USC to a No. 11 seed, but they most likely won't fall out of the field entirely. 

USC's performance against ASU from T-Mobile Arena was summed up by a stretch late in the first half where the team had five turnovers on six possessions.

"We just didn't take care of the ball," Ellis said.

Here’s what USC head coach Andy Enfield had to say following the Trojans' defeat. Watch the full Trojans press conference above.

On USC's overall performance:

"We got off to a slow start. It was a tough week of practice. A lot of guys are injured and sick this week. We look like a team that didn't practice for four days which we didn't. We played hard in the second half, came back in the game and fell short."

On USC's first half and ASU's performance:

"When you play like we did in the first half it's very difficult to win...They made some really tough shots tonight. Give them credit. They made shots tonight."

On USC's mistakes down the stretch:

"We cut it to five and they rebounded a free throw miss with a minute left, so that just kinda summed the whole game up. You can't out give extra possessions, especially when they're shooting like that."