Analysis: USC men’s basketball is at a crossroads, in execution and in culture
The Trojans have lost five in a row and are mired at the bottom of the Pac-12, with some interesting comments from captain Boogie Ellis after Saturday’s loss to UCLA
Bronny James (6) of USC along with teammates Vincent Iwuchukwu (3) and Joshua Morgan (24) after another turnover against UCLA in the first half at the Galen Center on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES – Andy Enfield strode into the postgame interview room on Saturday with the same gait as ever, assuming the same tight-lipped poker face that accompanies any result at the Galen Center, launching into a speech devoid of emotion and the same tone of a public information officer.
“Tough game for our players tonight,” USC’s head coach began, for it was.
And there was little way to tell, really, that this was the lowest point of Enfield’s USC tenure in about a decade. Fifth loss in a row. Utterly dismantled by an inconsistent UCLA team in a rivalry game on the Trojans’ home floor. Enfield, the stoic general who has long pivoted the USC’s men’s program from irrelevancy, cracked the same occasional smirk after the 65-50 loss to the Bruins that he did in an early-January win over Stanford when joking about his Just for Men shampoo.
“I’ve been in this game off and on a long time, and so, I’ve seen five-game losing streaks, I’ve seen five-game winning streaks,” Enfield said. “And we’ve had a lot of those here. And when things don’t go your way, you got to try to figure it out and keep improving.”
Here’s the problem: how, exactly?
All season long, UCLA had drawn the brunt of Los Angeles’ ire for a young, inexperienced group that hadn’t shown much cohesion under coach Mick Cronin. On Saturday, though, they seemed to gel while out-working USC – exposing the Trojans as the more flawed group in both execution and construction.
Sure, every one of USC’s starters has missed time with injury. Bronny James is still visibly ramping back from a devastating heart scare this summer. Isaiah Collier, the team’s freshman engine, has been out for weeks with a hand injury. But in terms of program trajectory, USC has taken one of the largest freefalls relative to preseason expectations of any school with national relevance.
They began the year ranked no. 21 in the AP poll, returning three starters from an NCAA-tournament team and bringing in two highly-touted freshmen in Isaiah Collier and Bronny James; Saturday’s loss to UCLA dropped them to 8-12, last in the Pac-12 and with virtually no shot at March Madness other than winning the Pac-12 tournament.
Adjustments have fallen short. Senior captain Boogie Ellis returned Saturday; after eight early points, he was held scoreless the rest of the way as UCLA face-guarded him and no other Trojan could create a lick of offense.
Enfield started two centers for the first time all season, in Josh Morgan and Vincent Iwuchukwu, to help with size and length down low. USC still got out-rebounded by 14.
Simply put, there is no easy fix, because individual pieces aren’t developing together amid inconsistency. Enfield has expressed frustration with both the program’s defensive regression and lack of ball control. “It’s some basic basketball fundamentals that should prevent you from having too many turnovers,” the coach told the Southern California News Group on Jan. 25.
And Ellis’ comments Saturday, the senior normally a positive and even-keeled public face of the program, called the program’s culture into direct question. When asked if he felt a sense of urgency, Ellis mumbled he felt like “there’s supposed to be a sense of urgency since we lost that first game” in the losing streak.
“Sometimes, we gotta have some more pride, at the end of the day,” Ellis said, in response to another question. “We had a lot of guys on last year’s team who really knew how much it meant to us. I feel like, we just gotta establish a culture. We got a lot of young guys now – we got to want it more.”
Just over a month remains to establish that culture, before a trip to Vegas and the Pac-12 tournament. In good health, if the sun smiles down on Galen, pieces do exist for a late-season run. Leaning against a stanchion after a practice last week, assistant coach Chris Capko laid out the formula.
Get Ellis going, fully healed from a nagging hamstring. Bring Collier back into the fold, healthy. Get Morgan back to full strength, after working back from a virus that cost him 15 pounds.
“Knock on this, everybody stays healthy,” Capko said, “and you feel like a team that can, hey, guys have gotten better … you feel like, ‘You know what, maybe it was worth it.’”
He tapped his fist against the padded stanchion, in lieu of the ol’ traditional knock-on-wood superstition – one last appeal, perhaps, to the basketball gods.
ocregister.com
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A couple reports popped up today. First the Athletic Director said she intends to display Reggie’s jersey with the other retired numbers, I assume in the coliseum.
On3. Posted a list ranking coaches with Lincoln Riley at # 9 just barely better than Lane Kiffin #10 and behind #5 Sark. I don’t read too much in these lists because a lot of the success of the head coach is what his staff does. I just hope Riley learned a lesson that loyalty cannot guide assistants being excused for poor performance.
Lincoln Riley watched so many things go wrong with his USC approach, that I’m getting the feeling he may have learned more during the 2023 season than any other by far. Having never rebuilt a team before, and yet working with a likely #1 Draft pick at QB (in an exceptionally strong year for QBs), LR somehow managed to lose his grip on where we all thought we were headed before last season. And why he just continued to let Caleb run wild game after game to his own detriment, as well as the teams’, is something I’ve never understood.… Read more »
Allen, do you mean excused or executed?😂
Breaking — Seahawks hire Mike Macdonald as new head coach Brent Stecker (SeattleSports.com) — After a nearly three-week search, the Seattle Seahawks have reportedly found their next head coach: Mike Macdonald, the current defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday morning that the Seahawks and Macdonald are finalizing a deal to make him the team’s next head coach. The contract will be for six years, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Macdonald inherits a Seahawks team that is coming off back-to-back 9-8 seasons and has missed the playoffs in two of the last three seasons. The Seahawks face… Read more »
Boy, Ravens getting poached, first the Dir of Player Personnel becomes Chargers GM, now lose their DC.
The price of being good. Poor UCLA. They had D’Anton Lynn for one great year for their usually unimpressive D.
USC immed comes in and steals him, then gets two of his best players who decide Lynn’s the latest Pied Piper to follow to USC.
BTW, lots of NFL teams are still trying to get Chip Kelly as their next OC. “He’s testing the waters,” — Colin Cowherd
B1G Football Transfer Portal Winners and Losers: Ohio State, Oregon, and USC at the top The Athletic ranked Big Ten teams from 1-18 based on each team’s portal performance, with additions and departures figured in. Here’s the breakdown. 1 OHIO ST 2 ORE 3 USC After a disappointing 2023 campaign, USC fortified its defense with several key upgrades and added a quality young quarterback perhaps in line to replace likely No. 1 NFL draft pick Caleb Williams. From rival UCLA, the Trojans snagged defensive backs Kamari Ramsey (40 tackles) and John Humphrey (31 tackles, two interceptions). From former Pac-12 foe Oregon State, USC picked up first-team… Read more »
Tennessee, Virginia AGs file lawsuit versus NCAA over NIL recruiting restrictions David Ubben (The Athletic) — The states of Tennessee and Virginia filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in a federal court on Wednesday, challenging the organization’s ban on using name, image and likeness (NIL) in recruiting. The suit comes after news broke Tuesday that the NCAA was investigating the university and Spyre Sports — a collective unofficially associated with the University of Tennessee — and its activity in recruiting, specifically around Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Tennessee and Virginia are seeking a temporary restraining order barring the NCAA from enforcing its NIL-recruiting ban or taking any… Read more »
Good for them more states should join. Who here ever took a job with a promise of what you MIGHT not will get paid after you take the job?
Yahoo Sports
With these changes, the Chargers have a real chance to capture their fair share of the LA fan base. Harbaugh is a proven winner…they need to draft talent from USC and (ugh) UCLA and their fan base will definitely grow.
Just off-hand, I’d say this Jim Harbaugh hiring is the greatest single coaching move ever made by the Chargers in their entire history.
Harbaugh wins big absolutely everywhere he goes … and makes the constantly underachieving Charges instantly relevant and exciting to follow. JMHO.
USC mens BKB has been a series of long periods of disappointment, punctuated by rare events of being good–not great. Been this way since the sixites in my recollection. Bring on football.