By MARK SAXON
The Orange County Register
SEATTLE — About a month ago, the USC basketball team left the drizzly Bay Area with two losses, chasing a future that no longer looked so sunny.
People wondered if O.J. Mayo would turn out to be a product of hype, the leading man on a flop.
But an interesting thing happened as the Pac-10 season got into gear. The Trojans found each other and, consequently, found themselves.
Their ascent reached another plateau with a 73-59 victory at Washington Thursday that gave them six victories in their last seven conference games and four straight victories on the road.
Mayo scored 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting and fellow freshman Davon Jefferson had 17 points and four blocks to hand Washington its worst home loss of the season. Afterward, Mayo and Jefferson talked about their growth in terms of learning to be unselfish.
“We’re all playing with poise, swinging the ball around and not just jacking up shots,” Jefferson said. “We’re playing great defense and with a lot of poise on offense.”
In one stretch early in the second half, USC (15-7, 6-4 in Pac-10) outscored the Huskies 19-0, sending many of the 9,567 fans out into a rainy Seattle night. It was total domination on either end. USC shot 53.8 percent to Washington’s 38.9 percent.
