Andy Enfield says rebounding ‘is not necessarily natural for a lot of guys.’ Do the Trojans have a plan for how to fix it?
“They work hard, they’re trying to be tough,” coach Andy Enfield says of his Trojans, “but the rebounding thing is not necessarily natural for a lot of guys.” (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
Thuc Nhi Nguyen (LA Times) — After a sixth consecutive loss, Andy Enfield’s patience appeared to be wearing thin. USC had just given up 17 offensive rebounds in a nine-point loss to Oregon at Galen Center. The previous game, the Trojans got outrebounded by 14 against UCLA at home. The coach, often so calculated in his media appearances, called his top four post players “poor” defensive rebounders. He yearned for USC’s big men of old. He missed their toughness.
Three weeks later, when asked where his players stood in terms of toughness required to battle on the boards, Enfield paused in a mostly empty practice gym. He considered his words carefully.
“They work hard, they’re trying to be tough,” the coach said, “but the rebounding thing is not necessarily natural for a lot of guys.”
The Trojans (10-16, 4-11 Pac-12) are the second-worst team in the Pac-12 in rebounding margin. They’re running out of time to address the glaring issue with five regular-season games left, starting with Saturday’s rivalry rematch against UCLA at 7 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins (14-12, 9-6) outrebounded USC 43-29 on Jan. 27 in a 15-point UCLA victory at Galen Center, their first road win over USC of coach Mick Cronin’s tenure. It won’t be easy for the Trojans to get revenge. They have lost seven consecutive road games, their longest road losing streak since 2015. USC has lost two straight games at Pauley Pavilion.
But after blowing a 16-point, second-half lead to Colorado, guard Boogie Ellis called the rivalry rematch a “must-win.” The Trojans are hoping to find any semblance of momentum entering the Pac-12 tournament, which they know will be their only hope for an NCAA tournament berth.
Last weekend could have provided the perfect launching point. A thrilling win and last-gasp block by Joshua Morgan against Utah appeared to give the slumping team confidence. Losing to Colorado in double overtime was a gut punch, but the Trojans tried to find a silver lining while preparing for UCLA.
“Just play like we did versus Utah and Colorado,” forward DJ Rodman said. “But just rebound.”
The Trojans have been outrebounded by an average of 18.25 in the last four games, including 27- and 25-rebound disadvantages against California and Colorado, respectively. It’s been an Achilles heel for the team all year, Morgan admitted.
Morgan leads the four-man post rotation that includes 7-foot-1 center Vincent Iwuchukwu, 6-9 sophomore Kijani Wright and freshman Arrinten Page. They have a combined 18 defensive rebounds in the last four games. None has pulled down more than two in a game.
“Some of our bigs are very good offensive rebounders, not so much natural defensive rebounders,” Enfield said. “Working at it, getting better, but we need them to improve, and then some of our guards, same thing.”
Defensive rebounding is a combination of technique, mentality and anticipation, Enfield said. The team continues to work on physicality drills in practice. Morgan, a 6-11 forward who leads the Pac-12 in blocks but averages a paltry 1.8 defensive rebounds per conference game in 21.1 minutes, has tried to focus on making sure he hits the opposing post player first after each shot. The 6-6 Rodman leads the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.
Making a late-season push on the boards is USC’s next task after tackling its turnover problem.
The Trojans had double-digit turnovers in 13 of their first 14 games. The struggles prompted the coaching staff to start tracking turnovers during practices, awarding points during each scrimmage for made baskets or turnovers forced. The team that lost had extra wind sprints at the end of each practice. The immediate feedback of seeing their mistakes tallied on the board, combined with the consequence of extra conditioning, made a bigger impact than simply reviewing the practice film a day later, said Enfield, who uses the system to track and penalize offensive rebounds given up during practice.
The strategy worked until injuries knocked out the starting backcourt. During the three games without Ellis and Isaiah Collier, USC had 42 assists to 50 turnovers. But since Collier’s return from a broken hand, USC is averaging 8.5 turnovers in the last four games compared to 12.7 on the season.
Much of USC’s preseason hype was built on the talented backcourt. Languishing at 11th place in the conference, the Trojans recognize they fell well short of expectations that placed them second in the Pac-12 preseason media poll. But getting Collier back makes them whole at the right time with the team preparing to go all-in at the conference tournament.
“We were one of the favorites to win at the beginning of the year and we still have the same team,” Rodman said. “I don’t know why that’s not a possibility.”
latimes.com
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Led by Boogie Ellis’ 24 points, USC beats UCLA at Pauley 62-56.
Eric Bieniemy set to join DeShaun Foster’s UCLA staff as offensive coordinator UCLA football coach DeShaun Foster is bringing on former NFL coordinator and one-time Bruins assistant Eric Bieniemy as his new offensive coordinator. Ben Bolch (LAT) — The new UCLA football coach is enlisting an old Bruins assistant as his offensive coordinator, finalizing an agreement to bring in Eric Bieniemy (54) nearly two decades after he was the team’s running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. The move to hire Bieniemy was confirmed Saturday by a person close to the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not… Read more »
With only three games left in the reg season, the Lady Trojans Look for 8th straight win and 22nd overall
No. 18 UTAH at No. 7 USC
When: Noon Sunday
Where: Galen Center
TV/radio: Pac-12 Networks/790 AM
UTAH beat USC 78-58 in Salt Lake on Jan 19
Women’s BB had a big night beating a tough physical Colorado team 87-81. They shot 57% FG, 68% 3 PT, and near perfect 96% FT. Maybe the women’s staff should school the men’s team on FTs!
And All-World USC frosh JuJu Watkins set a Galen Center scoring record (for both men and women) with 42 points for the Trojans in their seventh straight win
Watkins’ 18-of-18 effort from the free-throw line was her 10th perfect outing and set a new USC record for single-game FT% (also ties the best FT effort by any NCAA women’s player this season).
Watkins has led USC in scoring in 23 of the 24 games she’s played as a Trojan.
A tale of two programs. The SC men (with the #1 recruit in the nation) and the SC women (with the #1 recruit in the nation).
So far, JuJu Watkins has proven to be one of the most amazing female basketball players I have ever seen. The Lady Trojans are worth watching just to see her decimate opponents left and right. Even USC’s opponents have referred to her as “barely human”.
And the rest of the team were drilling 3s and playing tenacious D.
Enfield has enjoyed sustained success at USC, but I think his shelf life is about to hit it’s expiration date. I don’t see him recovering from this truly horrific season.
I know there is a big buyout, but I would like to see him sent packing at the end of the year. It would be best for the program going forward.
It’s strange, but when you go to the USC hoops board, any negative talk about Enfield is really frowned upon. The moderator there is convinced Andy is the greatest coach in school history.
Year after year, many of Andy Enfield’s wins have come against inferior non-Pac-12 teams, which is why he’s had several 20-win seasons. But his Pac-12 conference record is a ridiculously mediocre 101-99. I’ve called him an average college coach whereas others wouldn’t be so kind. Since expectations for USC basketball have rarely been big, I’ve always felt he was a good hire by Haden (one of his few strong moves) and a good fit at USC. Still, college hoops is all about March Madness. In 11 years as USC’s HC, Enfield has only made the 68-team NCAA tourney five times,… Read more »
PN4SC, You know I agree. Andy is now a zombie coach. If Collier decides to come back for this staff, he probably stays until Collier leaves. But, I cannot imagine Collier stays. If Collier wants to stay in college, best go to another program which will actually develop him.
Forget Enfield and his sorry band of wasted talent. He’s a loser, has to go. Watch the women, they are winners and great coaching. Even if women players seem to wear concrete shoes compared to men! ✌😎🏀
Right now at least, the USC women are massively more fun to watch than the men, and it’s not even close, kind of like their comparative records. No earth-shattering info there. JMHO.
Federal Judge Issues Injunction against NCAA’s NIL Rules
Paul Kasabian (B/R) — The NCAA cannot enforce any NIL rules for the time being after a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in the case of the state of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia vs. the NCAA.
bleacherreport.com
Well, it’s open season. Pay for play is the law of the land. Teams with the best collectives and most money will win most the recruiting battles. We shall see where we rank.
I think USC will also recruit better because we obviously have a far superior group of coaches on board now. There’s just no comparison based on their qualifications, resumes, backgrounds, accomplishments, and statements to the public so far.
Since Lincoln Riley has never been known as a great recruiter/closer, this will be even more important for USC’s recruiting.
When you have higher-quality people and teachers-of-the-game pursuing you, that makes a big difference to some recruits as well as their parents, who also have to be sold on where they place their kids.
USC has no excuses now to not go with signed up front offers for recruits and transfers. Great ruling! Who in their right mind agrees to “potential” million dollar deal on a verbal promise of a “possibility”.
I have heard that USC has funding for NIL. I just hope it is enough. Nike U will come out throwing even more money around like never before. This ruling is going to make a huge difference in recruiting now. They have left the ncaa powerless.
I had expected this would be the ruling. I think it totally is in line with the Supreme Court ruling and particularly Kavanaugh’s opinion. The NCAA now is officially dead except for the contracts for the CFP and March Madness. This ruling also effectively ends the investigation against FSU. I thought the NCAA was crazy to go after FSU and TN given that Court ruling, but it did. And now things are much worse. There should be two immediate impacts on SC: Pay for Play NIL is now the law of the land. SC cannot be concerned about it at… Read more »
So if winning against Ucla will save Enfield’s job… I’m rooting for the Bruins.
Misery Loves Company
I really don’t know what to make of Andy Enfield’s future at USC. He’s always been a mediocre college basketball coach at USC IMO, despite recruiting big names who you think would make USC hoops a much better team than we’ve been.
Exactly what USC’s expectations are for USC hoops is unclear to me. It’ll be interesting to see what Jen Cohen thinks.
USC’s women’s basketball has seen widespread individual defensive improvement thanks to a unique formula asst Beth Burns has popularized with the team Burns has created her own “secret sauce” for USC’s defensive excellence Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — Rayah Marshall grinned as if she were the keeper of a kingdom’s tactics, backpedaling quickly away from a question about customs that have buoyed the USC women’s basketball team’s recent defensive surge. “The defensive goal chart,” Marshall said, walking away after Thursday’s practice, flinging morsels of information over her shoulder with a smirk in her voice. “If you… Read more »
As we learned with Grinch either can coach defense or you can’t. Burns and Gottlieb can, Enfield and staff can’t.