USC men’s basketball trying to right the ship to start March
The Trojans have two games to return to form before the Pac-12 tourney
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — Wednesday’s game against Stanford still has implications for the USC men’s basketball team’s quest for a regular-season Pac-12 title. But the Trojans must have a simpler goal than that in the final two games before the conference tournament.
Get right.
The offense, the defense, and the general mojo the team had going for it the first three months of the season prior to this recent 1-3 stretch have vanished. The Trojans need to get it back on course before tournament games begin.
Of course, USC (19-6, 13-5 in Pac-12) can and should still aim for its first regular-season conference title in 36 years, though the Trojans need some help to get there.
If USC beats Stanford (14-11, 10-9) on Wednesday and UCLA on Saturday, it would still need Oregon to lose one of its final games (Wednesday vs. UCLA and Saturday at Oregon State) for the Trojans to come out as conference champs and the No. 1 seed at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas next week.
But that’s out of the Trojans’ control for the time being. What USC can control, though, is how it plays this week.
The Trojans were practically unrecognizable in last week’s losses to Colorado and Utah. The Buffs and Utes both shot at least 47% from the field against the typically-staunch USC defense, and they combined to make 21 3-pointers in the two games.
And on the offensive end, the Trojans couldn’t crack 40% shooting in either game. But perhaps the most damning stat from the road trip was that over the two games, USC had just 15 assists on 45 made baskets, compared to 25 turnovers.
“We try to give these guys some freedom to play and with that freedom comes the expectation to share the ball like we have all season,” head coach Andy Enfield said. “Some of those decisions were just driving in the lane and jumping and flipping the ball up.”
So it’s on USC to get back on track against a Stanford team that has lost three in a row. The Cardinal’s best player, forward Oscar da Silva, has missed the last two games with a lower body injury and is considered day-to-day.
But regardless if he plays or not, now is the time for USC to get back on track, because there aren’t many opportunities left.
“They have to play at the level they’ve played all season,” Enfield said of his players. “And if they do that, we’ll be fine.”
Stanford at USC
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Galen Center
TV/Radio: Fox Sports One/AM 790
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This is some of the lousiest basketball I have seen maybe in a couple of years………(And I am a Knicks fan )
HOF19, You saw a rerun of last week’s game against Utah. SC stunk it up something fierce. Utah is NOT a good team. In fact, they are an awful team. And, they destroyed SC. A totally different SC team played Stanford last night. If the SC team that played Stanford had actually shown up in Utah, SC would have won by 20.
Maybe the next win for SC Mens Basketball will come next season (Based on the way they have played lately)……..SMH !!!!!
SC has GOT TO play better in the second half …..FIGHT ON !!!!!
If Utah and SC play like this in the Pac-12 Tournament they will not (either team) win a game .
“A San Diego County judge sentenced former NFL tight end Kellen Winslow II to 14 years in prison Wednesday for multiple rapes and sexual offenses committed against five women in Southern California.” — Yahoo Sports
yahoo.com
Yes SC has the lead …….But no I am not confident yet .
A simple question…….Can the SC Mens Basketball team win a game ?????……We will see …..FIGHT ON !!!!!
Wonder how UCLA will do in Oregon? ORE leads 19-16 midway thru 1st half.
Don La Greca on Yes Network’s (Yankees owned TV Network) Live TV show just said “The only reason you would announce to the world that you will take call from teams wanting to trade for Sam Darnold is to prepare Sam for being traded “…….You gotta understand there are very few athletes that call into La Greca’s show more often than Sam for live interviews…..Which will go away if Sam is traded.
Offensive line — the ongoing problem at USC: Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — The schedule puts even more pressure on the offensive line, the glaring weakness on the 2021 Trojan team. It was the program’s biggest question mark a year ago, and the group has since lost projected first-round pick Alijah Vera-Tucker. The line will benefit from the fact there’s no premier pass rusher on the schedule this year on the level of Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux, who dominated USC’s tackles in the Pac-12 title game. Still, Notre Dame and BYU will have the size and athleticism upfront to create some issues for… Read more »
Do you have any faith in the line? I don’t think it’s a coaching, technique, or talent issue (we keep sending 1st rounders out), I think it is 100% a culture issue. Clay refuses to be physical and he’s not changing. Unless the new line coach is a miracle worker it will still be an underperforming unit due to soft practices and leadership. My two cents
But… I do think TO has the defense playing aggressive and physical. Maybe they smash those guys into some sort of toughness, doubt it though.
An offensive line needs to have more than just one guy on it to be good, and if you have a bad or totally mediocre center, like USC usually does nowadays, the entire line and team suffers. The fact that USC is sending out another first-round OL really means nothing IMO), except for a couple of brownie points. Whooppee! You’re really only as strong as your weakest link, actually. USC’s OL always seems relatively passive to me now. JMHO. As Morales pointed out, Kayvon Thibodeaux ate USC alive. Vera-Tucker was reduced to being a non-factor there, even a liability, assuming… Read more »
I think going forward talent will be our issue, we have not recruited that position group well in the last few years, but before this recent history we did get better recruits. You can’t dismiss two first rounders in back to back years, Edoga and Simmons are recent OL in NFL. You don’t put guys in the NFL who aren’t talented. I agree that our center has been a mess from snap issues to just getting bullied, but Dedich and Nielon were number 2 rated centers in the country coming out of high school. They had offers from everyone. I… Read more »
Maybe Pete Carroll will go after Vera-Tucker, since the Seattle OL is so bad that Wilson is posturizing to escape, and has now waived his no-trade clause for four teams. I never understood why Edoga, a #3 round pick went that high, but it’s probably because it was the woeful Jets who took him. Dedich and Neilon were both #2 nationally as prep OLs? Really? USC’s football culture must be pretty sad to reduce them to what they have produced at USC so far. Sometimes prep rankings end up being way off. If Dedich and Neilon (who are both objectively… Read more »
I’m stumped as well. We just don’t get it done on the line, which is a football sickness that is almost impossible to overcome.
Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — If I was forced to pick a record today, I’d say USC goes 9-3 with losses at Notre Dame, Arizona State and Cal. Notre Dame is the only team on the schedule with more talent than USC, and it gets the Trojans at home. I think Arizona State has been building toward this year for a while. Jayden Daniels is a junior and potentially in his last season with the program. The weapons around him are a year older, and the Sun Devils bring a lot back on defense. If Arizona State is going to… Read more »
It seems like the USC athletic admin is happy with both USC football and basketball as long as both programs are in the top half of the conference. They don’t need to win the Pac-12 to make Mike Bohn happy. If Enfield doesn’t win the conference reg season, or the Pac-12 tourney, no matter. Enfield’s coming back, despite his routine February failings and he’s on solid footing at USC. Helton’s obviously not a championship coach either, and USC’s trying to fix everything else around him, while keeping him as the HC. However, Stewart Mandel (The Athletic) thinks USC has reached… Read more »
The New York Jets have put a FOR SALE sign up per Colin Cowherd. But what’s up for sale? Sam Darnold or their #2 pick? He bases this so-called Jets intent on the fact that the Jets are reportedly “intrigued” by BYU QB Zach Wilson. In Cowherd’s mind, the use of that one word means the jets are telling the Bears, the 49ers, and the Washington Football team to get in touch about taking Sam Darnold off their hands. Or maybe they are telling the Broncos, Eagles, or Panthers to make us an offer for that #2 pick. Well, Joe… Read more »
Call me a Debbie Downer if you will, but the Jets are to the NFL as the Clippers are to the NBA. Sam will benefit being on another franchise IMO. 😎
Ya, I can’t wait to see where Darnold lands. But I have no idea really about where would be the best spot for him.
I’ve always been a big fan of his, so I hope he makes the right choice for his sake, assuming he has any say in the matter.
Maybe he should talk to Tom Brady about how to pick a team to transfer to!😀
I couldn’t agree more. As of now, Darnold’s stock has basically been reduced to being possibly just a clipboard holder. I’ll be really interested to see what he commands in price.
I don’t honestly know if he’s a high-quality starter anymore in the NFL. He regressed by all accounts with the Jets. That’s hard for me to believe, but he did talk about “seeing ghosts” out there on the field, and the fans in New York, the ones who watched him play every down, don’t seem anxious to have him back, unless I’m just misinformed here.
Well GT, if he had Tom’s record he could definitely pull that off. 😎
It seems as though teams are watching the films and figuring out how to shut down USC basketball, just like they did with USC football.