Two games, five overtimes.

Two days after beating San Diego State in double OT, the Troy Trojans played the USC Trojans in Los Angeles and went to triple OT — and would have won that, too, had USC guard Jordan Marsh not made a desperation, twisting, contested 3 at the buzzer after Troy turned it over inside five seconds to go.

A 108-107 win on Tuesday.

A 107-106 loss on Thursday.

“I don’t know if that’s ever happened,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said of five overtimes in back-to-back games. “USC, to their credit, made an incredible shot at the buzzer to beat them. Troy’s got a good team. I think we all know that.

“Are we disappointed we didn’t win? Yeah, we’re disappointed. But that’s basketball. That was a good team that beat us.”

Doing to USC what they did to SDSU helped soften the blow of the Aztecs’ first loss in a nonconference home “buy” game since 2018, or at least it did in the computer metrics.

The Aztecs momentarily rose from 41 to 36 in the Kenpom metric on Thursday night without playing, a reflection of the Sun Belt team’s climb from 135 to 111 after a close win and close loss in games they were projected to lose by 15.5 and 18 1/2 points, respectively. (The Aztecs dropped back down on Friday.)

It also helped in terms of Troy’s perception, elevated by a pair of crazy games against high-profile programs that drew national attention.

“First of all, shout out to Troy and their coaches,” said USC and former Aztecs guard Chad Baker-Mazara, who had a career-high 34 points. “They’re some dawgs, man. … They beat San Diego State at San Diego State. I played there. That’s a hard place to win. We knew we were going to have a dog fight.”

Asked if watching USC struggle against Troy’s 5-out offense made Tuesday’s loss any easier to swallow, SDSU forward Jeremiah Oden shook his head.

“I wouldn’t say (we feel) better,” Oden said, “but it shows they’re a good team. We didn’t lose to a bad team. I still feel like it’s a game we should have won if we played better, but they’re a good team.”

Playing sick

SDSU’s minutes leader on Tuesday was Reese Dixon-Waters, with 43.

That’s a lot of minutes under any circumstances, but especially so given that he was recovering from the flu.

“That’s too many (minutes) for Reese coming off the flu,” Dutcher said, “but we had guys in foul trouble and guys fouled out. We left him in there probably longer than he should have been in there, but he battled.”

It’s been a rough few weeks for Dixon-Waters, who missed all of last season with a broken bone in his foot and a month of summer workouts with a sprained ankle. He got the flu the weekend before the season opener, then missed it with a corneal abrasion in his eye.

Then a relapse of the flu that kept him out of practice in the days before the Troy game.

“There were times where I wasn’t necessarily tired, but my body just wasn’t able to move the way it usually does,” said Dixon-Waters, who finished with 16 points but shot 5 of 13 and had three turnovers. “Being sick always sucks. I was glad I was able to push through and play for the betterment of the team, but it was definitely a challenge.

“I didn’t want it to be public that I had the flu, because I’ve been the type of player where if I’m playing, I don’t want an excuse. I don’t want anybody to be like, ‘He wasn’t himself because he had the flu.’ Unfortunately, people knew about it. It is what it is.”

Lobos’ punch

New Mexico guard Deyton Albury, a transfer from Utah State and preseason all-conference selection, was ejected from the Lobos’ 84-72 loss against Nebraska on Thursday for throwing a punch into the back of an opponent’s head as he ran past him.

Huskers guard Connor Essegian posted a picture on social media showing the tooth that was knocked out.

Albury issued an apology on social media, saying: “Lobo Nation, you deserve better than what I displayed tonight. Regardless of what led to my selfish decision, I put myself before the team.”

The statement did not apologize directly to Essegian, although New Mexico coach Eric Olen said Albury did that in person.

The question became what sort of punishment Albury might face, either internally from New Mexico or from the Mountain West.

Not much, it turns out.

Olen issued a statement before the game saying Albury “committed an act that was rightfully assessed as a Flagrant 2 foul” and would not start Friday against Mississippi State, but would be available to play. Albury subbed in with 14:48 left in the first half and finished with 13 points in an 80-78 win.