Over the course of USC’s undefeated start, with its star freshman still out, its point guard nursing an ailing shoulder and one of its best defenders down because of an injured hip, coach Eric Musselman still managed to make the best of his ravaged roster.
No. 24 USC had won eight straight, sweeping its nonconference slate, including the Maui Invitational. It then won its Big Ten opener at Oregon. In spite of all they’d lost, the Trojans hadn’t just remained intact — they looked as strong, through the season’s first month, as they had to date under Musselman. It felt like the sort of start capable of rewriting expectations.
Then came the second half of USC’s Big Ten home opener Saturday at Galen Center, when it all unraveled in a stunning 84-76 collapse to Washington.
“We have to play a lot better,” Musselman said. “When you’re down three people as talented as our three guys, you’ve gotta step up and play. That’s what we have to do.”
That the defeat came at the hands of former Trojans point guard Desmond Claude only made it tougher to swallow. It was more than seven months ago that Claude, the Trojans’ leading scorer last season, left USC scrambling by leaving on the final day of the transfer portal window. Now he was wearing purple, reminding Musselman and Co. of what might have been.
It was Claude who came alive in the final minutes, giving the Huskies just the catalyst they needed to catch up to USC, which led for all but six minutes. In fact the Trojans had an 11-point lead with less than eight minutes remaining.
Claude nearly closed that gap himself, scoring 18 of his 22 points in an extraordinary second-half performance. With less than five minutes remaining, Claude crossed up USC forward Ezra Ausar and drove to the hoop, dropping a floater off the high glass to tie the score at 68.
It was a dizzying, disheartening fall from there for the Trojans. Washington freshman Hannes Steinbach (24 points) hit a three-pointer on the Huskies’ next possession. Claude followed with one of his own. Suddenly the Trojans were down two possessions in a game they led by 18 at halftime.
How the game reached that point was an indictment of USC’s second-half effort, which looked nothing like its first-half performance. USC looked primed to run away with the game after sixth-year senior Chad Baker-Mazara poured in 14 points ahead of the break. But nothing went right from there.
“We just got too comfortable,” guard Jordan Marsh said. “Plain and simple.”
Musselman was more blunt.
“I thought, on both sides of the ball, we stunk,” he said.
USC guard Jordan Marsh drives against Washington in the first half Saturday.
(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)
That was perhaps putting it nicely. After shooting 50% from the field in the first half, USC (8-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) shot a paltry 25% in the second. Washington, meanwhile, shot 59% after halftime — 25% better than the opening half.
The Huskies (6-3, 1-1) also pulled down more than twice as many rebounds (25) as USC (12) and scored twice as many points in the paint (20) as USC (10) after halftime.
“They just killed us on the glass,” Marsh said.
Marsh was USC’s only bright spot during that stretch. With the rest of the Trojans making just five shots from the field in the second half, Marsh poured in 10 points.
He hit a three with less than two minutes remaining to cut the deficit to three and give USC a glimmer of hope, only for Claude to immediately extinguish it seconds later, driving for a lay-in, getting fouled and making the free throw.
It was as demoralizing a final stretch as the Trojans have experienced under Musselman, whose frustration after the collapse was clear. He pointed to the absence of point guard Rodney Rice, freshman Alijah Arenas and Amarion Dickerson — who’s expected to miss three to four months after hurting a hip against Oregon — as part of the reason why USC couldn’t weather its second-half struggles.
But with all three likely to remain out in the coming weeks, he also acknowledged that “nobody cares” about the hurdles they have to overcome.
They cleared most of them — until the second half Saturday.
“I hope this is a learning experience for our team,” Musselman said. “They’re still figuring stuff out. Some guys in that locker room are super disappointed. Others, we have to find out if they are or not.”
