Trojans lead Sacramento State 24-16 after sloppy first half

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In front of a sparse crowd at the Galen Center, the USC men’s basketball team is displaying how to turn the ball over and make a game of what should be a cupcake blowout of Sacramento State.

The Trojans had 15 turnovers in the first half, right near their season average for a game (15.5), and are leading 24-16.

There have been bad passes, missed dunks, backcourt violations and point-blank layups gone awry -- certainly not the effort head Coach Kevin O’Neill wanted to see after his team ‘just gave in,’ he said, to No. 23 Georgia Tech in Saturday’s 79-53 loss.

In that game, the Trojans fell behind 19-0, and the Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 23-8 run.

In this game, forwards Alex Stepheson and Nikola Vucevic are leading the Trojans with 8 points and 4 rebounds apiece.

The Trojans are shooting 10 of 21 from the floor, and are out-rebounding the Hornets 24 to 13.

-- Baxter Holmes