Los Angeles ? USC celebrity freshman guard O.J. Mayo took some of the blame for a 59-55 loss Sunday to Kansas University in the Galen Center because of poor shot selection, but he couldn’t second-guess his defensive effort on the winning shot.

That shot, a Mario Chalmers 3-pointer from well beyond the arc, was all about giving credit, not assessing blame.

“We played good defense for 34 seconds (of the 35-second shot clock),” Mayo said. “The last second he hit a big-time 3. It was a shot we would like for them to take if we played them again. He knocked it down. He was 30 feet out. I tried to contest the shot, and he knocked it down.”

USC coach Tim Floyd voiced a similar sentiment.

“We were guarding him in stride, a stride above the 3-point line, and they ought to give him a 4-pointer for where that thing came from,” Floyd said. “That was out there about three or four strides off … The kid made a big shot.”

Chalmers took 11 shots from the field and scored 20 points. Mayo hoisted 21 shots from the field and scored 19 points.

“I thought we played with tremendous madness on the defensive end,” Floyd said. “We’ve got to not play with madness on the offensive end, and I thought we did in stretches. It doesn’t have to be that way all year, and we’ll get it better.”

Mayo took some insane shots, sometimes while obviously attempting to draw fouls.

“We pretty much took whatever shot we wanted, whether it was a good shot or a bad shot, me included,” Mayo said. “We can correct some of them.”

Things went south for USC after assistant coach Rudy Hackett, a former Syracuse superstar and the father of USC guard Daniel Hackett, was tagged with a technical foul for standing up on the bench to protest a call with 9:28 left. Over the next three minutes, KU outscored the Trojans, 9-0.

After the game, while still getting his point across, Floyd did so with words that could not induce a fine for criticizing the officials.

“They called it on an assistant standing up,” Floyd said. “I’m sure that when I go back and watch the film that I will not see their assistants stand up during the game. I’m sure they stayed secure and locked down the entire game. I’m sure that that’s what I’ll see.”

USC post player Taj Gibson came in averaging 10.3 points and finished with two points before fouling out.

“I’ll look at the film and try to evaluate where these fouls are coming from,” Floyd said. “I remember a post-up foul in front of us to start the second half, first possession, that I didn’t see. I didn’t see it. But I’m sure I’ll notice it when I watch film. I’m sure it will jump up and slap me in the face when I watch it, but I didn’t see it.”